Hadas de Cottingley

History and mythology

Being a constellation of the Zodiac, characteristic with its clusters, the Bull is a very old constellation.

In the Greek Mythology, the Bull would correspond either to the bovine form used by Zeus in order to make the abduction of Europe, or with the white bull sent by Poséidon to Minos.

Observation of stars

; Localization of the constellation A great prominent constellation of the winter sky of the northern Hemisphere, the Bull is located between the Bélier at the west and the Gemini at the east. The To notch and Persée are in north, the Baleine and the Éridan in south-east, and Orion in south-east.

Aldébaran is located very easily, that it is starting from Orion (in the prolongation of the three Magi), or by its proximity with the Pleiads. It is the brilliant star which dominates the axis Orion - Pleiads. Aldébaran can also be identified directly by the " V" it marks one of the extremities.

; Form constellation Aldébaran (α Brilliant Tauri), red and, one of the star S first magnitude, are in the middle of this constellation. Behind it are the Hyades, the open Amas nearest to the Earth, which, with Aldébaran, form a V marking the head of the Bull. The horns extend to the west, marked by Elnath (β Tauri, traditionally divided by the Coachman) and ζ Tauri. About the middle of the constellation is one of the open Amas S most known, easily visible with the naked eye, the Pléiades.

The North-eastern part of the constellation contains two brilliant but enough isolated stars, which do not appear not attached to the center. By prolonging the branch of the " V" where is Aldébaran, one fall on ζ Tau, the nose of the Bull, which seems to gather with the bludgeon of Orion and the feet of Gémaux. On its side, Elnath (β Tau), the horn Is, is located in the prolongation of the other connects " V" , and rather seems to gather with the Coachman to form a small hexagon.

The " column vertébrale" is in the back prolongation of Aldébaran and its branch of the " V". One falls successively on λ Tau and ο Tau, which marks the end of the constellation. Between the spinal column and the arc of Orion, the South-western part does not contain alignment nor of very convincing form. One can see there a body of bull and some legs with much of imagination, the form imagined variable with the conditions of visibility.

Principal stars

Aldébaran (α Tauri)

Aldébaran is the most brilliant star of the constellation of the Bull with an apparent magnitude of 0,87 (either the 13 {{E}} of the sky). Distant of 65 light-years, it is a red giantess of a advanced age, 40 times larger than the Sun.

Aldébaran is close to the ecliptic and is rather often occulted by the Sun and the the Moon.

Other stars

Elnath is the second star of the constellation and carries the denomination β logically; Tau. Less logically, it is sometimes indicated γ Aur.

Celestial objects

The constellation of the Bull contains, inter alia, two close Amas of stars, the Hyades and the Pléiades, sufficiently luminous to be clearly visible with the naked eye.

Hyades are distant approximately 150 light-years, which makes the open Amas of it nearest to the Solar system (if one excludes the cluster from the Grande Ourse which seems to be only one whole of nondependant individual stars). The majority of its members are in a 10 light-years diameter and move about in the same direction. Although Aldébaran is apparently in the center of the cluster, it does not form part and is in fact twice nearer.

The Pleiads (also noted M45) are probably the most known cluster. In fact, one can distinguish with the naked eye from 6 to 12 distinct stars, among the 500 which compose it. The cluster is distant 380 light-years.

Another object visible with the telescope is the Nébuleuse Crab, a vestige of Supernova in the North-East of ζ Tauri. The immense explosion, visible the July 4th 1054, was enough brilliant to be observed of day. One finds of them mentions in Chinese historical collections and Amerindian potteries.

See too

List of stars of the Bull

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