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Earth · Fixed

Taurus

The Bull, the 2nd sign of the zodiac year, usually printed as 20 April – 20 May.

A hand-coloured star card of Taurus: a dark grey bull charging from the right with long pale horns and a shaggy brow, the Pleiades marked as a cluster on its shoulder and Aldebaran on its cheek.
Taurus · Sidney Hall · Urania's Mirror; or, A View of the Heavens, London, 1825
Element
Earthpracticality, endurance and the material world, in the tradition
Modality
Fixedthe signs that hold the middle of a season, traditionally read as sustainers
Traditional ruler
VenusAssigned before the outer planets were found
Modern ruler
VenusSame as the traditional ruler.

When the sun actually crosses

The moment the sun enters Taurus and the moment it leaves for Gemini, each year from 2015 to 2026, in UTC to the minute.

19 Apr 00:0019 Apr 06:0019 Apr 12:0019 Apr 18:0020 Apr 00:0020 Apr 06:0020 Apr 12:0020122016202020242010202619 Apr 00:0019 Apr 06:0019 Apr 12:0019 Apr 18:0020 Apr 00:0020 Apr 06:0020 Apr 12:00201220162020202420102026
Where the sun crossed into Taurus, 2010–2026, in UTC. The marked years are the ones where a 29 February has fallen in between and pulled it back by most of a day.
YearSun enters TaurusSun leaves for Gemini
201520 April, 09:42 UTC21 May, 08:45 UTC
201619 April, 15:29 UTC20 May, 14:36 UTC
201719 April, 21:27 UTC20 May, 20:31 UTC
201820 April, 03:12 UTC21 May, 02:15 UTC
201920 April, 08:55 UTC21 May, 07:59 UTC
202019 April, 14:46 UTC20 May, 13:49 UTC
202119 April, 20:33 UTC20 May, 19:37 UTC
202220 April, 02:24 UTC21 May, 01:23 UTC
202320 April, 08:13 UTC21 May, 07:09 UTC
202419 April, 14:00 UTC20 May, 13:00 UTC
202519 April, 19:56 UTC20 May, 18:55 UTC
202620 April, 01:39 UTC21 May, 00:37 UTC

VSOP87, checked against published equinox and solstice times.

Which dates can be Taurus

Since 1920 the sun has entered Taurus on 19 April, 20 April or 21 April, and left it for Gemini on 20 May, 21 May or 22 May (UTC). On those dates the sign depends on the year, and in a crossing year on the hour; each date's page gives every year.

In the tradition

In Western astrological tradition, Taurus is classed as a fixed earth sign. Fixed signs are the signs that hold the middle of a season, traditionally read as sustainers, and earth signs are traditionally associated with practicality, endurance and the material world. Its ruling planet in that tradition is Venus.

These are associations reported from tradition, not claims about anyone born under the sign.

The bull that carried Europa

The Bull is among the stars, Hyginus says, because it carried Europa safely to Crete, as Euripides tells it. Others said that when Io had been turned into a heifer, Jupiter, to make amends, put up a figure that "resembled a bull in its fore parts, but was dim behind." The stars that outline its face are the Hyades, who were, Pherecydes says, the seven nurses of Liber, placed in the sky by Jove for bringing the god to Thebes.

Some astronomers called the Pleiades the Bull's tail. They are said to be seven, though only six can be seen, and Hyginus gives two reasons: Merope married a mortal, Sisyphus, so her star is dim, or Electra left her sisters in grief after Troy fell and her descendants through Dardanus were overthrown.

Hyginus, Astronomica, book 2, in Mary Grant's translation (1960), chapter 2.21, checked .

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