Aldebaran Fixed star: ALDEBARAN Oculus Tauri Constellation: Alpha (α) Taurus Longitude 1900: 08GEM23 Longitude 2000: 09GEM47 Declination 1900: +16.18′ Declination 2000: +16.31′ Right ascension: 04h 35m Latitude: -05.28′ Spectral class: KM Magnitude: 0.85 Variable The history of the star: Aldebaran from p.383 of Star Names, Richard Hinckley Allen, 1889. Alpha (α) Taurus, Aldebaran, is a pale rose star marking the right eye of the Bull (the star Ain, or epsilon (ε), marks the left eye). Aldebaran is from Al Dabaran, the Follower, i.e. of the Pleiades (a group of stars in Taurus of which Alcyone is the central one), or, as the 19th American philologist Professor Whitney’s suggested, because it marked the 2nd manzil (Arabic Moon Mansion) that followed the first. The name, now monopolized by this star, originally was given to the entire group of the Hyades and the lunar mansion which, as Na’ir al Dabaran, the Bright One of the Follower, our star marked; yet there was diversity of opinion as to this, for the first edition of the Alfonsine Tables applied it solely to alpha (α Aldebaran), while that of 1483, and the 10th century Persian astronomical writer Al Sufi, did not recognize alpha (α Aldebaran) as included in the title. The Italian astronomer Riccioli (1598-1671) usually wrote it Aldebara, occasionally {p.384} Aldebaram, adopted in the French edition of Flamsteed’s Atlas of 1776; Spenser, in the Faerie Queen wrote Aldeboran, which occasionally still appears; Chaucer, in the Hous of Fame, and even the modern La Lande, had Aldeberan; the 17th century German astronomer and ephemeris creator Schickard gave the word as Addebiris and Debiron; and Costard, in his History of Astronomy, cited Aldebaron The Persian astronomer Al Biruni (973-1048 A.D.) quoted, as titles indigenous to Arabia, Al Fanik, the Stallion Camel; Al Fatik, the Fat Camel; and Al Muhdij, the Female Camel,— the smaller adjacent stars of the Hyades (a group of stars on the face of the Bull) being the Little Camels; and it was Tali al Najm and Hadi al Najm, equivalents of the Stella Dominatrix of classical ages, as if driving the Pleiades before it (Pleiades are a group of stars on the shoulders of the Bull). Indeed in the last century Niebuhr heard the synonymous Saik al Thurayya on the Arabian shores of the Persian Gulf. A later name was Ain al Thaur,— which Western astronomers corrupted to Atin and Hain Altor,— identical with Greek Omma Boos, Latin Oculus Tauri, and the early English Bull’s Eye, even now a common title. The Italian astronomer Riccioli (1598-1671) gave this more definitely as Oculus australis (“southern eye”), and Aben Ezra as the left Eye [it is on the bull’s right eye]. Aldebaran was the divine star in the worship of the tribe Misam, who thought that it brought rain, and that its heliacal rising unattended by showers portended a barren year. The Hindu Rohini, a Red Deer, used also for the nakshatra (Hindu Moon Mansion) in Scorpio marked by Antares, was unquestionably from the star’s ruddy hue, Leonard Digges writing, in his Prognostication for 1555, that it is “ever a meate rodde [red]”; and the Alfonsine Tables had quae trahit ad aerem clarum valde — est ut cerea Palilicium [Allen notes: This word is from Palilia, or Parilia, the feast of Pales,— the Latin shepherds’ divinity and their feminine form of Pan,— which marked the birthday of Rome the 21st of April, when this star vanished in the twilight], in various orthography, but correctly Parilicium, used for the whole group of the Hyades, descended as a special designation for Aldebaran through all the catalogues to Flamsteed’s, where it is exclusively used. Columella called it Sucula as chief of the peasants’ Suculae. Ptolemy’s Lampadias, Torch-bearer, was Lampauras in Proclus’ Paraphrase The 1603 and 1720 editions of the 17th century German astronomer Bayer’s Uranometria distinctly terminate their lists of Aldebaran’s titles with the words Subruffa and Aben Ezra; but the 17th century German astronomer Bayer’s star-names are often by no means clear, and here incorrect. The latter of these is merely the name of the famous Jewish commentator to whom he often refers; and the former a designation of the light red color (Subrufa) {p.385} of the star which we all recognize. Some poet has written “red Aldebaran burns”; and William Roscoe Thayer, in his Halid “I saw on a minaret’s tip Aldebaran like a ruby aflame, then leisurely slip Into the black horizon’s bowl.” In all astrology it has been thought eminently fortunate, portending riches and honor; and was one of the four Royal Stars, or Guardians of the Sky, of Persia, 5000 years ago, when it marked the vernal equinox. As such Flammarion quoted its title Taschter, which Lenormant said signified the Creator Spirit that caused rain and deluge; but a different conception of these Guardian Stars among the Hindus is noted under Argo, and still another is given by Edkins, who makes Aldebaran Sataves, the leader of the western stars. Fl...