This enormous distance is perhaps better guaged when we say that if the distance from the earth to the sun, a matter of ninety-three milHon miles, be considered as one inch, Aldebaran would be twenty-seven miles away.
Aldebaran is said to be receding from us at the rate of thirty miles a second, and Prof. Russell tells us that this gigantic sun emits i6o times as much light as our sun. It culminates at 9 p.m., Jan. 10th.
β Tauri, also known as γ Aurigæ, a second magnitude star, was called by the Arabs "El-Nath," which means the "Butting One," a reference to its position in the northern horn of the Bull. This star is common to the constellations Taurus and Auriga.
Aratos thus refers to it:
Of the near Charioteer, one star embraces.
The star is peculiarly white in colour, and Allen tells us that "the sun stood near this star at the commencement of spring 6000 years ago. It has a Sirian spectrum, and is receding from us at the rate of about five miles a second. Between it and ψ Aurigæ was discovered on the 24th of January, 1891, the now celebrated Nova Aurigæ that has occasioned so much interest in the astronomical world."
Among the Hindus it represented Agni, the god of fire, and among the astrologers it portended eminence and fortune.
ζ Tauri, a 3.5 magnitude star, marks the tip of the southern horn of the Bull. The wonderful "Crab Nebula" is situated a little north-west of it, and can be seen in a three-inch glass, though a powerful telescope alone reveals its ctirious form.
Astrologically ζ Tauri was considered of mischievous influence.
Taurus contains the greatest number of stars of any constellation, 141 in all, exclusive of the Pleiades.
