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public  Greenwich, UK Greenwich, UK  ⓘ
TimezoneEurope/London
Sunrise: 7:25 
Transit: 12:14 
Sunset: 17:03
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All Constellations » Taurus » 

Aldebaran - α Tauri (alpha Tauri)

Below the horizon.  Rise: 11:51 | Tran: 19:16 | Set: 2:46
Alt: -5.22°   Az: 54.95°   Direction: North-East

Aldebaran, also designated as α Tauri (alpha Tauri), is a variable and multiple giant star of spectral class K5 in the constellation of Taurus.

Aldebaran visual magnitude is 0.85, making it the 13th brightest star in the sky. Because of its brightness, Aldebaran is clearly visible to the naked eye when observed from locations with dark skies, and should be also quite easily visible from light polluted areas.

Image of Aldebaran - α Tauri (alpha Tauri) star
DSS2 image of Aldebaran. The red arrow shows the motion of Aldebaran during the next 1000 years (1.05 arcmin in Right Ascension and -3.17 arcmin in declination);

Celestial Coordinates

Apparent

04h 37m 21s
+16° 33’ 32”
15h 53m 03s
20h 30m 24s

J2000

04h 35m 55s
+16° 30’ 33”

Galactic Coordinates

180.97°
-20.25°

Finder Chart

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Finder chart for Aldebaran - α Tauri (alpha Tauri).

Magnitude, Color, Spectral Class

0.85
Giant

-0.65
K5III
3734K

The red dot in the diagram below shows where Aldebaran is situated in the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram.

HR Diagram
H-R diagram showing the position of Aldebaran. Attribution: Richard Powell / CC BY-SA

Star System Properties

Aldebaran is a visual double star which can be observed only with the help of very large telescopes. The table below shows key information about the Aldebaran double sysyem:

0.85
10.65
9.8
121.7 arcsec

Distance, Radial Speed, Proper Motion

Aldebaran is distant 65.08 light years from the Sun and it is moving far from the Sun at the speed of 54 kilometers per second.

19.96
65.08
54 km/s
0.063 arcsec/y
-0.19"/y

Alternative Designations

Aldebaran
α Tauri
(alpha Tauri)
SAO94027
SAO94027
Gl 171.1A

Visibility from Your Location

Today's Aldebaran - α Tauri (alpha Tauri) rise, transit and set times from Greenwich, UK are the following (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):

Azimuth: 73.4°
Max altitude: 55.1°
Azimuth: 286.6°