The Moon anchors a beautiful lineup tonight. As night falls, the planet Jupiter and the star Aldebaran trickle off to the lower right of the Moon. The trio stays close as it arcs across the sky during the night.
Aldebaran is the brightest star of Taurus. It represents the bull’s eye. When the glary Moon isn’t close by, the star shows a definite orange tint – an indication that its surface is thousands of degrees cooler than the surface of the Sun.
Aldebaran is part of a V-shaped pattern of stars that outlines the bull’s face. The other stars in the V are members of a cluster known as the Hyades. And another cluster – the dipper-shaped Pleiades – stands above them. It represents the shoulder of the bull.
These two patterns may be depicted in an ancient painting. The artwork is in Lascaux Caves, in southwestern France. It’s one of more than 600 large paintings on the cave walls. Many of them depict the large animals found in the region at the time. Some of the pictures may form astronomical almanacs, recording the annual motions of the stars. At least one painting is interpreted as a calendar, showing the timing between solstices and equinoxes.
The cave paintings appear to be at least 17,000 years old, and perhaps a good bit older. That would make this possible depiction of the stars the oldest astronomical artwork in the world – a portrait of the celestial bull.
Script by Damond Benningfield