Starwatch: Behold Taurus, the Babylonian bull of heaven

Recorded in cave drawings as far back as 1000BC, this is one of the oldest zodiacal constellations to be recognised in its modern formTaurus, the bull, is our focus this week. One of the oldest constellations to be recognised in its modern form, it was recorded as the bull of heaven in Babylonian records from about 1000BC, but cave drawings from Lascaux, France, suggest that humans may already have associated the stars with a bull approximately 14,000 years earlier.Taurus sits on the ecliptic, the path that the Sun follows around the sky throughout the year, so it is known as a zodiacal constellation. The brightest star in the constellation is the red giant star Aldebaran. In Arabic, its name means “eye of the bull”. Continue reading...