Taurus, resembles the shape of a bull (Vrishabh), when stars in this constellation are imaginarily connected, as per Indian mythology!
Where should I see…
Aries and Cetus, is the constellation which is towards west of Taurus constellation. If you move your
eyes towards east, you will see another constellation named Gemini. In the North of Taurus, you will find Auriga and Perseus and in South, Orion and Eridanus constellations respectively. Taurus is between celestial equator and North Pole, and so is fully part of Northern Hemisphere.
It covers up 797 square degree area of the sky. Area wise it is 17th largest constellation in the sky.
When and What can I see…
We can gaze at this shape of Taurus constellation from August to March, as seen from India.
All you need is your naked eyes other than clear skies to see 222 stars of this constellations, as they are the one which are brighter than the lower limit of our naked eyes (i.e. 6.5 apparent magnitude) to see faintest stars. The brightest star of this constellation is Aldebaran (Alpha tauri). The Hindu name is Rohini, which is also known as Nakshatra (lunar mansion).
Constellations are made up of single, binary (apparent and absolute), multiple and variable stars. Out of total 222 stars of different types, here is the list of 20 brightest stars as per their nature:
| Binary / Multiple Star system |
Variable Stars |
Binary/multiple and Variable Stars |
Single stars |
| Elnath |
Tianguan |
Aldebaran |
Electra |
| Alcyone |
Prima Hyadum |
Chamukuy |
3 |
| Ain |
Maia |
Atlas |
– |
| 1 |
3 |
Secunda Hyadum |
– |
| – |
– |
2 |
– |
| 4 |
6 |
6 |
4 |
Mythology stories…
As per Hindu mythology, there are no such known stories for this constellation.
Deep Sky Objects…
Crab Nebula or M1 || Supernova Remanat
Hyades Cluster || Open Cluster
Merope Nebula or NGC 1435 || Diffuse Reflection Nebula
All the stars that we see naked eyes, all belong to our own, Milky way galaxy (Akash Ganga Tara Vishv). Bright stars can be seen naked eye and faint one through telescope. But the curtain of sky that we see in 2D is actually a huge universe we are talking about, with 3 dimension. There are many nebulous objects visible in every constellations. They differ widely by distances and nature. Like Emission Nebula, Reflecting Nebula, Absorption Nebula, Star Birth Nebula, Supernova Remnants (SNR) and Open Starscluster which are within the disk of our own Milky Way galaxy. Globular cluster are also found, which are in the halo of our galaxy and some most distant objects like galaxies are also visible through telescope. Such objects are defined as “Deep Sky Objects”.
In this constellation there are 86 such different types of Deep Sky Objects observed. The brightest deep sky object of this constellation is M45 (Pleiades). The Hindu name is Krittika, which is also known as Nakshatra (lunar mansion).
Below is the list of 20 brightest Deep Sky Objects:
NGC 1746 || Open Cluster
NGC 1817 || Open Cluster
NGC 1409 & NGC 1410 || Interacting Galaxy Pair
| |
Galaxy |
Open Cluster |
Globular Cluster |
Nebula |
Supernova Remnant |
|
| Naked eye visibility |
– |
M45(Pleiades) |
– |
– |
– |
|
|
| Visible through Telescope |
12 |
2 |
– |
Hind’s nebula |
M1(Crab nebula) |
|
|
| – |
– |
– |
1 |
– |
|
|
| – |
– |
– |
– |
– |
|
|
| |
12 |
5 |
|
2 |
1 |
|
NGC-1514 || Planetary Nebula
NGC 1555 or Hind’s Variable Nebula || Variable Nebula
NGC 1647 || Open Cluster
