A vast giantstar, more than forty times the diameter of the Sun, Aldebaran has appears to have a planetary system with at least one planet in orbit, designated Aldebaran b and belonging to the class known as 'hot Jupiters'.
Aldebaran is the unmistakable bright 'eye' in the face of Taurus
the Bull. Most of the stars in this busy region belong
to the cluster known as the Hyades, but
orange Aldebaran does not: it is about one hundred light years
nearer to Earth than the stars of the
Hyadescluster.
A prominent orangegiant, the 'eye' of the constellationTaurus. Its name
means 'the follower', because it follows the Pleiades across northern winter
skies.
Orange Aldebaran, seen against the backdrop of the southern stars of the Hyadescluster. Aldebaran is not a member of the Hyades, but lies in the foreground on the same line of sight from Earth. Imagery provided by Aladin sky atlas
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