Editing Taurus (constellation) (section)

==History and mythology==

{{See also|Bull (mythology)}}
{{multiple image
| align     = left
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| width     = 250
| image1    = Constellation Taureau_-_al-Sufi.jpg
| caption1  = Taurus as depicted in the astronomical treatise ''[[Book of Fixed Stars]]'' by the Persian astronomer [[Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi]], c. 964.
| image2    = Sidney Hall - Urania's Mirror - Taurus.jpg
| caption2  = Taurus as depicted in ''[[Urania's Mirror]]'', a set of constellation cards published in London c.1825.
}}

The identification of the [[constellation]] of Taurus with a bull is very old, certainly dating to the [[Chalcolithic]], and perhaps even to the [[Upper Paleolithic]]. Michael Rappenglück of the [[University of Munich]] believes that Taurus is represented in a [[cave painting]] at the Hall of the Bulls in the caves at [[Lascaux]] (dated to roughly 15,000 BC), which he believes is accompanied by a depiction of the Pleiades.<ref name="arxiv0810.1592" /><ref name="whitehouse20000809" /> The name "seven sisters" has been used for the Pleiades in the languages of many cultures, including indigenous groups of [[Australia]], [[North America]] and [[Siberia]]. This suggests that the name may have a common ancient origin.<ref name="brown2008" />

Taurus marked the point of [[March equinox|vernal (spring) equinox]] in the [[Chalcolithic]] and the [[Early Bronze Age]], from about 4000 BC to 1700 BC, after which it moved into the neighboring constellation Aries.<ref name="noonan05" /> The Pleiades were closest to the Sun at vernal equinox around the [[23rd century BC]]. In [[Babylonian astronomy]], the constellation was listed in the [[MUL.APIN]] as  {{lang|sux-Latn|GU<sub>4</sub>.AN.NA}}, "The [[Bull of Heaven]]".<ref name="rogers1998" /> Although it has been claimed that "when the Babylonians first set up their zodiac, the vernal equinox lay in Taurus,"<ref name=wilson1997/> there is a claim that the MUL.APIN tablets indicate<ref name=rogers1998/> that the vernal equinox was marked by the Babylonian constellation known as "the hired man" (the modern Aries).<ref name=hartner1965/>

In the [[Akkadian language|Old Babylonian]] ''[[Epic of Gilgamesh]]'', the goddess [[Ishtar]] sends Taurus, the [[Bull of Heaven]], to kill Gilgamesh for spurning her advances.<ref name="hines2002" /> Enkidu tears off the bull's hind part and hurls the quarters into the sky where they become the stars we know as Ursa Major and Ursa Minor. Some locate Gilgamesh as the neighboring constellation of Orion, facing Taurus as if in combat,<ref name="ns120_36" /> while others identify him with the sun whose rising on the equinox vanquishes the constellation. In early Mesopotamian art, the Bull of Heaven was closely associated with [[Inanna]], the [[Mesopotamian religion|Sumerian goddess]] of sexual love, fertility, and warfare. One of the oldest depictions shows the bull standing before the goddess' standard; since it has 3 stars depicted on its back (the cuneiform sign for "star-constellation"), there is good reason to regard this as the constellation later known as Taurus.<ref name="white2008" />

The same iconic representation of the Heavenly Bull was depicted in the [[Dendera zodiac]], an [[Egypt]]ian bas-relief carving in a ceiling that depicted the [[celestial hemisphere]] using a [[planisphere]]. In these ancient cultures, the orientation of the horns was portrayed as upward or backward. This differed from the later Greek depiction where the horns pointed forward.<ref name="jbaa108_1_9" /> To the Egyptians, the constellation Taurus was a sacred bull that was associated with the renewal of life in spring. When the spring equinox entered Taurus, the constellation would become covered by the Sun in the western sky as spring began. This "sacrifice" led to the renewal of the land.<ref name="ptak1998" /> To the early [[Hebrews]], Taurus was the first constellation in their zodiac and consequently it was represented by the first letter in their alphabet, [[Aleph]].{{sfn|Allen|1963|p=381}}

In [[Greek mythology]], Taurus was identified with [[Zeus]], who assumed the form of a magnificent white bull to abduct [[Europa (mythology)|Europa]], a legendary Phoenician princess. In illustrations of Greek mythology, only the front portion of this constellation is depicted; this was sometimes explained as Taurus being partly submerged as he carried Europa out to sea. A second Greek myth portrays Taurus as [[Io (mythology)|Io]], a mistress of Zeus. To hide his lover from his wife [[Hera]], Zeus changed Io into the form of a heifer.<ref name="ridpath2018" /> Greek mythographer [[Acusilaus]] marks the bull Taurus as the same that formed the myth of the [[Cretan Bull]], one of [[Labors of Hercules|The Twelve Labors]] of [[Heracles]].<ref name="palaephatus_stern1996" />

Taurus became an important object of worship among the [[Druid]]s. Their Tauric religious festival was held while the Sun passed through the constellation.<ref name="noonan05" /> Among the arctic people known as the [[Inuit]], the constellation is called Sakiattiat and the Hyades is Nanurjuk, with the latter representing the spirit of the [[polar bear]]. Aldebaran represents the bear, with the remainder of the stars in the Hyades being dogs that are holding the beast at bay.<ref name=penprase2010/>

In [[Buddhism]], legends hold that [[Gautama Buddha]] was born when the [[full moon]] was in [[Vaisakha]], or Taurus.<ref name="grundwedel1901" /> Buddha's birthday is celebrated with the Wesak Festival, or [[Vesākha]], which occurs on the first or second full moon when the Sun is in Taurus.<ref name="mr2007" />

In 1990, due to the [[precession of the equinoxes]], the position of the Sun on the first day of summer (June 21) crossed the IAU boundary of Gemini into Taurus.<ref name="griffith" /> The Sun will slowly move through Taurus at a rate of 1° east every 72 years until approximately 2600 AD, at which point it will be in Aries on the first day of summer{{citation needed|date=October 2019}}.

===Astrology===
{{Main|Taurus (astrology)}}
{{As of|2008}}, the Sun appears in the constellation Taurus from May 13 to June 21.<ref name="comins_kaufman2008" /> In [[tropical astrology]], the Sun is considered to be in the sign [[Taurus (astrology)|Taurus]] from April 20 to May 20.<ref name="sharp2005" />

===Space exploration===
The [[space probe]] ''[[Pioneer 10]]'' is moving in the direction of this constellation, though it will not be nearing any of the stars in this constellation for many thousands of years, by which time its batteries will be long dead.<ref name=NASA20030225/>

===Solar eclipse of May 29, 1919===
Several stars in the Hyades star cluster, including [[Kappa Tauri]], were photographed during the total [[solar eclipse of May 29, 1919]], by the expedition of [[Arthur Eddington]] in [[Príncipe]] and others in [[Sobral, Ceará|Sobral, Brazil]], that [[tests of general relativity|confirmed]] [[Albert Einstein]]'s prediction of the [[gravitational lens|bending of light]] around the [[Sun]] according to his [[general theory of relativity]] which he published in 1915.<ref name="Eddington1920"/>