Starwatch: this week observe Taurus, constellation admired for millennia

Make a note of Aldebaran, the brightest star of Taurus, which means eye of the bull' in Arabic

Search out one of the very oldest recognised constellations this week. Taurus - the bull of heaven - was first recorded by the Babylonians in about 1000BC but other cultures may have associated this grouping of stars with a bull much earlier. At the Lascaux network of caves, in France, 17,000-year-old cave art shows what appears to be similar patterns to the stars of Taurus surrounded by a magnificent rendition of a bull.

Taurus is a zodiacal constellation, meaning that the sun's path through the sky passes through its boundaries. Preceding Taurus on the zodiac is Aries, the ram, and following it is Gemini, the twins.