Aldebaran

Brightest star in the constellation Taurus and the 14th-brightest star in the night sky; it marks the eye of the ‘bull’. Aldebaran is a red giant 65 light years away from the Sun, shining with a true luminosity of about 100 times that of the Sun.

In ancient Persia, Aldebaran was the first of four Royal Stars that marked the approximate positions of the Sun at the time of the equinoxes and solstices. The other three were Regulus, Antares, and Fomalhaut. The Romans knew it as ‘Palilicium’ because it disappeared into the evening twilight about the time when the feast of Pales was celebrated.