From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Aldebaran (Alpha Tauri) is a large, bright orange star in the constellation Taurus which is frequently mentioned in works of science fiction:
[edit] Literature
- Aldebaran is one of several stars mentioned in the Cthulhu Mythos, as somehow relating to the being or place named Hastur.
- In Joe Haldeman's The Forever War, mankind's first contact with the alien race, later called Taurans, technically occurs near Aldebaran. As the main character explains, ""Aldebaranian" is a little hard to handle, they named the enemy "Tauran"."
- Frederik Pohl's Narabedla Inc. is partially set on a planet circling Aldebaran. The title being the name of an Earth Corporation run by human agents of the Aldebaran aliens. Narabedla is Aldebaran spelled backward.
- In the novels of E. E. Smith's Lensman Series Aldebaran's second planet is portrayed as having no native intelligent life, and, being otherwise very Earth-like, attracting large scale human settlement. This yields a vibrant world with a notably hedonistic culture.
- Llyrdis, the fourth planet of Aldebaran, is the home of the starfaring Vardda people in Leigh Brackett's The Starmen of Llyrdis.
- Aldebaran is the home system of the sea turtle-like aliens in Ursula K. Le Guin's The Lathe of Heaven.
- Aldebaran is one of the first solar systems visited by mankind in Kim Stanley Robinson's Blue Mars.
In "The Machiavelli Covenant" by Allan Folsom; Forge Books 2007, He uses Aldebaran as the name of an ancient Italian coven.
[edit] Comics
- Léo's comics series Aldébaran is set on the Earth-like planet "Aldebaran-4" (or simply "Aldebaran"), circling the star of the same name. The planet is colonised by humans.
[edit] Television
- The album, Their Satanic Majesties Request by the Rolling Stones (1967) contains the lyrics "See you on Aldebaran", in the song "2000 Light Years from Home".
- The folk rock album Farewell Aldebaran, including a song of the same title, was released by singer Judy Henske and her then husband Jerry Yester in 1969.
- Enya released on her 1986 album Enya and on her 1992 album The Celts a song called Aldebaran, sung in Gaelic. In the liner notes for the The Celts album, Roma Ryan gives a little background information about Aldebaran and says that this piece portrays future Celts passing Aldebaran on their journey to new territories, continuing the migratory pattern which was so predominant in their early history. The song runs 3:05 minutes, the lyrics are written by Roma Ryan, the music by Eithne Ní Bhraonáin (Enya) and the albums it appeared on were produced by Nicky Ryan.
- The second section of the one-track, 75-minute album The Place Where the Black Stars Hang by dark ambient musician Brian "Lustmord" Williams is entitled Aldebaran of the Hyades, an allusion to a story by Robert W. Chambers.
- Another dark ambient artist, INADE, has released an album titled "Aldebaran".
- Aldebaran, a star system where the Vasudan Government was moved after the Great War in the computer game FreeSpace 2
- Alpha Tauri (another name for Aldebaran), the homeworld of the Ilwrath in the PC game series Star Control
- Aldebaran, a distant, uninhabited system in Frontier: Elite II and Frontier: First Encounters
- The planet Merrol in the Aldebaran system is officially controlled by the Federation but torn by open rebellion and pirate endeavours in Escape Velocity Nova.
[edit] Other uses
- In Tess of the d'Urbervilles, Aldebaran is mentioned in reference to the glow of Tess's jewelry as she sits opposite her new husband Angel.
- In George Orwell's semi-autobiographical Down and Out in Paris and London, Bozo, a fellow vagrant but sometimes street painter, befriends the narrator and points out Aldebaran in a conversation about his interest in astronomy.
- Aldebaran is mentioned in the fifteenth episode of James Joyce's Ulysses; in connection with Sir Robert Ball's work, it forms a reference to parallax, one of the book's recurring themes.
- In the Anime and Manga series Saint Seiya , The Taurus Gold Saint's name is Aldebaran
