Aldebaran is the brightest star in the constellation Taurus, also known as its eye, and the figure of this celestial beast typically appears to have only one eye. However, on June 12-13, you will be able to see a second one, which will be the planet Venus.
Taurus’ eyes
On June 12-13, an interesting situation will be observed in the sky. The constellation Taurus, which usually looks like a one-eyed man, will seem to open its second eye, and unlike the first, it will be yellow and much brighter, not red.
At first glance, it all appears to be nonsense, but that is not entirely true. The star Aldebaran is known as the Eye of Taurus, the brightest star in this constellation. Its stellar magnitude reaches 0.85. It is a red giant located at a distance of 65 light-years from us.
Of course, there are no figures in the sky, but the human imagination draws contours to groups of stars, and usually the constellation Taurus is drawn in such a way that it has Aldebaran in place of an eye, but this beast has only one. The second should be the planet Venus.
Venus movement
Venus, which is a planet, is moving through the constellation Taurus right now, but on the 12th and 13th, it will pass by Aldebaran at a minimum distance. So, it will be visible above it. It will be white and yellow and much brighter.
It is worth recalling that it is about 5070 times smaller than Aldebaran in diameter. Still, it is only a few tens of millions of kilometers away from us and has a high albedo, so the reflected light from the Sun will be enough to surpass the red giant.
To see the two-eyed Taurus in the sky, wake up before dawn, such as at 3 a.m. local time, and go to a place with an unobstructed horizon towards the east. Taurus will rise above it, with Venus nearby.
In general, this is a rather rare phenomenon. Venus never moves far enough away from the Sun in the sky. And Taurus is close to it in late spring, in the first half of summer. So, even theoretically, such a convergence can be observed only during this period and only once a year, because our neighbor makes one revolution around the Sun in 224 days, which means that it simply does not have time to get close to Aldebaran twice.
In reality, such meetings are even rarer, as Venus is not always on the same side as Taurus at this time of year. In addition, its orbit is inclined to the ecliptic, so it is not so easy for it to become Taurus’ second eye. But in July 2025, we were lucky enough to have it.
