Taurus

Taurus is one of the 88 modern constellations recognized by the International Astronomical Union. Its genitive form is Tauri, its standard abbreviation is Tau, it is traditionally shown as the Bull. It belongs to the Zodiac family of constellations and lies in the first quadrant of the northern hemisphere. The constellation covers about 797 square degrees of sky, ranking 17th in size among the 88. Its brightest star is Aldebaran (α Tau) at apparent magnitude 0.85. It borders Auriga, Perseus, Aries, Cetus, Eridanus, Orion and Gemini. In this atlas the entity is the shared sky reference for astronomical objects catalogued by constellation, so every star, nebula or galaxy located within Taurus resolves to one identity.