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Aldebaran
Anne Kozak
Aldebaran’s Characteristics
The Sun has a diameter about 1,391,980 km or 864,938
miles, but Aldebaran’s diameter is 40 to 52 times that.
Aldebaran’s temperature is 4100° Kelvin, which is much
colder than our Sun, whose temperature is about 5778°
Kelvin.
Aldebaran is red, while our Sun is yellow.
Aldebaran is 65.1 light years away from the Sun.
Aldebaran on an H-R Diagram
Aldebaran in Taurus
Once there was a princess, who was the daughter of King Agenor. On
a fine spring day, the princess, whose name was Europa, went to the
seashore to gather flowers. Zeus, who had fallen in love with Europa,
seized the opportunity. He transformed himself into a magnificent white
bull and joined King Agenor’s grazing herd. Europa noticed the white
beast. She wove wreathes of flowers for it, and wrapped them around his
horns. As he trotted down to the seashore, she jumped onto his shoulders.
Suddenly, to her surprise and fright, he pushed into the sea and carried
Europa to Crete, a Greek island. When they reached the Cretan shore, Zeus
turned back into his original form.
Aldebaran’s Life Cycle
Aldebaran started off as a large, relatively cool mass of gas,
part of a nebula. As gravity caused the gas to contract, its
temperature rose, eventually becoming high enough to trigger a
nuclear reaction in its atoms. When the gases and dust of the nebula
contracted, a protostar was formed. Gravity caused the protostar to
condense further and heat up. Nuclear reactions occurred when the
temperature in the center of the protostar reached about 10 million
degrees, and the star was born. Further expansion and heating of
the star’s exterior then led to the formation of a red giant. This is
what Aldebaran is now.
Aldebaran is a massive star, so it will grow to form a
supergiant. Then it will explode and its matter will be released into
space. If the entire supergiant explodes it will evolve into a
supernova. Depending on the mass, the supernova will give birth
either to a neutron star or, if the exploded supergiant is of a high
enough mass, a black hole. If only the outer part of the supergiant
will explode a supernova will form.
Information Pages
• www.bo.astro.it/copernic/alde-eng.html
• www.solstation.com/stars2/aldebaran.htm
• www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia /A/Aldebaran.html
• http://www.dibonsmith.com/tau_con.htm
• http://www.eso.org/public/outreach/eduoff/cas/cas2002/casprojects/uk_aldebaran_1/