During December, look for the star Aldebaran, the lucida of Taurus, the Bull.  It’s half way up in the sky when you face towards the east.  The star is orange in color and forms the apex of the “V” of Taurus (where it represents the eye of the bull).  If you were born in 1947 then Aldebaran is your birthday star this year because the light you see tonight left Aldebaran 65 years ago.

While Aldebaran is consisted to be the eye of a bull, its name is however Arabic and means the follower. Arab astronomers probably gave it this name because it follows the Pleiades star cluster. The star appears as the brightest member of the Hyades star cluster, a widely spaced cluster of stars that forms the “V” of Taurus. However, this is just a chance alignment. Taurus is only half as far away as the Hyades.

Aldebaran is a giant orange star with a spectral classification is K5. The star, being more massive than the sun, has consumed most of the hydrogen in its core. The star’s core is contracting as a result and growing hotter as it does so. Eventually the core of Aldebaran will grow hot enough begin fusing its helium ash into hydrogen. This release of fusion energy will stave off the further collapse of its core. Currently the temperature of its core has expanded the star to a size 44 times greater than the sun’s diameter.