WRFH/Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM - Astro Minute: The Eye of the Bull

Episode Date: January 23, 2024

The eye of Taurus the Bull is a red giant called Aldebaran. Tune in to learn how to find this magnificent red gem!

Welcome to the Astro Minute, where we're exploring the universe 60 seconds at a time. I'm Lauren Smith, and today we're looking into the face of a bull. While enjoying crisp winter night skies, you may have noticed not far from the Pleiades, a distinctive V-shaped group of stars. This is the Hyades' open star cluster, the face of Taurus, the Bull. The Hyatties cluster contains hundreds of stars and is one of the closest of over a thousand open clusters discovered so far in our Milky Way galaxy. The bull's face is dominated by his fiery eye, the magnificent red-orange star Aldebaron,

a red giant over 500 times more luminous than our sun. Though they appear together in the V, Hyades and Aldebaron are actually separated from each other by over 80 light years. To see this winter treat, look about halfway between Orion and the Pleiades for the V-shaped group of stars and bright Aldebaron. That's your Astro Minute.