Taurus, the bull

Taurus is the bull charging at Orion. Its face is a V of stars, the Hyades, with orange Aldebaran as the eye, and the Pleiades ride on its back.

Where is it from where I am?

How to spot it: A V of stars with orange Aldebaran, and the tight Pleiades cluster nearby. Source (opens in a new tab)

Half a bull

Only the front half of the bull (opens in a new tab) is shown in the sky, charging with head down toward Orion. The face is the V-shaped Hyades; the eye is the reddish star Aldebaran; one horn ends at the foot of Auriga. In Greek myth it was usually Zeus, disguised as a white bull to carry off Europa.

The Pleiades

On the bull's back is the Pleiades (opens in a new tab) cluster, about 445 light-years away (a figure astronomers still debate), easy to see with the unaided eye from a dark site. The blue wisps in long photographs are streams of dust. Across the world the Pleiades carry stories: Matariki in Aotearoa New Zealand, Krittika in India, al-Thurayya in Arabic tradition.

The Crab Nebula

In 1054 Chinese astronomers recorded a "guest star" (opens in a new tab) visible in daylight for nearly a month. What remains is the Crab Nebula, 6,500 light-years away, with a pulsar at its centre: the spinning core of the exploded star, flashing 30 times a second.

Where on Earth, and when

The whole key pattern rises from anywhere north of about 61°S.

South of about 74°S, none of it rises.

North of about 74°N, the whole key pattern never sets.

Its middle climbs at least 20° high, the finder's threshold for a suggestion, from anywhere north of about 48°S.

It is highest in the evening sky, at about 9 p.m. local time, in mid-January, from either hemisphere, wherever it rises. With daylight saving time, that is nearer 10 p.m. on the clock.

Worked out by this site from the Bright Star Catalogue, for a flat, clear horizon. Hills, buildings, haze and city light all cut into this; the air also lifts objects near the horizon by about half a degree. For your own place and night, use the sky finder.