Aldebaran

Meaning

Aldebaran is the bright orange-red star in the face of Taurus, the Bull’s eye. Its name comes from the Arabic al-dabarān, “the follower”, because it rises after the Pleiades and seems to chase them across the sky. It shines at about magnitude 0.9, among the brightest stars of the night, and lies some 65 light-years away.

Its degree was 9°47′ Gemini in 2000. Like every star, it moves forward about a degree in 72 years, so it stands near 10° Gemini in the 2020s. It lies about 5½° south of the ecliptic, close enough for the Moon to pass in front of it in some years.

Ptolemy compares the bright star of the Hyades to Mars. Tradition reads Aldebaran as courage, drive and a strong sense of honour: the energy to lead, to speak up and to stand firm. Its difficult side is rashness and a quick temper. Modern writers often link it with success that lasts as long as one keeps one’s integrity.

In practice

• On the Sun or the Midheaven, Aldebaran is read as a wish to be seen for one’s courage and principles. A public role then asks for steady ethics.
• On the Moon, it is read as strong feelings, quickly roused, and loyalty fiercely held.
• On Mars, the two voices agree: tradition reads boldness, energy and a need to act, best given a worthy cause.
• By sign, it stands in early Gemini in the tropical zodiac, though it belongs to the constellation Taurus. A Taurus planet does not meet it.

Across traditions

• Indian astrology names the lunar mansion of Aldebaran Rohini, “the red one”. In myth, Rohini was the favourite of the Moon’s 27 wives, the nakshatras.
• Chinese astronomy calls it 毕宿五 Bìxiùwǔ, the fifth star of the Net lodge.
• The four royal stars. Modern books often call Aldebaran, Regulus, Antares and Fomalhaut the four royal stars, or watchers of the sky. They credit the idea to ancient Persia. The grouping is popular, but its ancient basis is debated. The stars do lie roughly a quarter of the zodiac apart. Around 3000 BC, Aldebaran and Antares stood close to the equinoxes, Regulus and Fomalhaut within about ten degrees of the solstices.

Origin and history

Ptolemy’s Almagest lists Aldebaran as the bright, reddish star of the Hyades, on the Bull’s southern eye. In the Tetrabiblos he gives it the nature of Mars. Medieval magic counted it among the fifteen Behenian stars, and Agrippa lists it in his De occulta philosophia. Vivian Robson, in 1923, gathered the old readings: honour, eloquence, integrity and courage. Bernadette Brady, in 1998, tied the star to integrity and to the Bull’s myth.

How Ulune calculates it

Ulune places Aldebaran from the Swiss Ephemeris star catalogue, sefstars.txt, where it is Alpha Tauri. Its position is the apparent one at the chart’s moment, with precession, nutation, aberration and the star’s own motion applied.

A body within 1° of Aldebaran’s longitude counts as on it; latitude is not compared. The Stars part of the chart table lists every body, point and angle on the star except the lots, closest first. Without a birth time, a contact that may not hold all day is marked ~. On the wheel, Aldebaran is an overlay turned on in the Bodies panel. Its mark names the closest of the Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars or the four angles within 1°.

Correspondences