Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog

Ephemeris for Friday, January 18th.  The sun will rise at 8:13.  It’ll be up for 9 hours and 18 minutes, setting at 5:32.   The moon, at first quarter today, will set at 1:42 tomorrow morning.

The bright orange star Aldebaran is the most westerly bright star of winter Aldebaran appears at the upper left tip of a letter V group of stars that is the face of the bull, his angry red eye.  Aldebaran isn’t actually part of the group, called the Hyades star cluster.  Aldebaran is 65 light years away, less than half the distance of the Hyades.  The name Aldebaran means “The Follower” because it follows the Pleiades across the skies.  The Pleiades is the brightest star cluster in Taurus, also known as the Seven Sisters.  Aldebaran has an orange hue because its surface is cooler than the sun’s.  However Aldebaran is 44 times larger in diameter, and shines 500 times brighter than the sun.  It’s the type of star that’s in the red giant phase of life.

Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan.  They may be different for your location.

Addendum

Aldebaran,Jupiter, the Hyades, and the Pleiades on January 18 2913. Created using Stellarium.