Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Cepheus (Cep)  ·  Contains:  The star Alderamin (αCep)
Aldebaran, Pablo Lewin
Aldebaran
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Aldebaran

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Description

Aldebaran /ælˈdɛbərən/[9][10] (α Tau, α Tauri, Alpha Tauri) is an orange giant star located about 65 light years away in the zodiac constellation of Taurus. With an average apparent magnitude of 0.87 it is the brightest star in the constellation and is one of the brightest stars in the nighttime sky. The name Aldebaran is Arabic (الدبران al-dabarān) and means "the Follower", presumably because it rises near and soon after the Pleiades.

In 1993 a substellar companion was reported. Subsequent observations did not confirm this claim, but a paper accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics in 2015 shows evidence for a planetary companion.

The planetary exploration probe Pioneer 10 is currently heading in the general direction of the star and should make its closest approach in about two million years

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Aldebaran, Pablo Lewin