Epsilon Tauri: Star with Planet
Epsilon Tauri
lies 146 light-years away.
A K-type
red giant
star, epsilon Tau is cooler than the Sun, but with
about 13 times the solar radius it has nearly 100 times the solar
luminosity.
A member of the
Hyades
open star cluster the giant star is known by the
proper name Ain,
and along with brighter giant star Aldebaran,
forms the eyes of Taurus the Bull.
Surrounded by dusty, dark clouds in Taurus, epsilon Tau
is also known to have a planet.
Discovered by
radial velocity
measurements in 2006,
Epsilon Tauri b
is a gas giant planet larger than Jupiter
with an orbital period of 1.6 years.
And though the exoplanet can't be seen directly, on a dark night
its parent star epsilon Tauri is easily visible to the unaided eye.