Theta Tauri

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The Hyades with θ Tauri in the center

Theta Tauri (astr. Abbreviation θ Tau ) is the fourth brightest star in Taurus (Taurus, northern zodiac) and the brightest in the V-shaped star cluster of the Hyades . It is located just under 2 ° west of the reddish giant star Aldebaran (α Tauri), which is far in front of the star cluster .

θ Tauri is a wide double star that can already be recognized with the naked eye . Its components θ¹ and θ² have an angular distance of 337 "(0.09 °) and apparent brightnesses of 3.8 and 3.4 mag, respectively, the total brightness of the system is 2.9 mag.

The star θ² Aa is called Chamukuy by the IAU .

The double star is suitable as an eye checker and is slightly more difficult to separate than Mizar / Alkor in the Big Dipper (705 "), but lighter than Epsilon Lyrae (207"). Only a few degrees away (on the other side of Aldebaran) is Sigma Tauri, a similar, but somewhat weaker double star with an angular difference of 431 ".

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  • Joachim Herrmann : DTV Atlas Astronomy , p.237. DTV-Verlag, 14th edition, Munich 2000
  • M.Feiler, P.Noack: Deep Sky Reiseatlas , map sheet 9 (Aur / Tau). Second edition, Oculum-Verlag , Erlangen 2005.