Aldebaran, also known as Alpha Tauri, was a planetary system in the Beta Quadrant. This first magnitude star was one of the brightest stars in Earth's night sky.
Notable lifeforms in this system included the Aldebaran mud leech, Aldebaran serpent, and Aldebaran shellmouth. (TOS: "Amok Time", "The Deadly Years"; TNG: "Hide And Q"; ENT: "Anomaly (ENT)"; DIS: "Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad")
Components[]
Stellar system[]
This was a binary star system consisting of the K-type red giant Aldebaran (the proper name for Alpha Tauri A) and the red dwarf Alpha Tauri B.
Planetary system[]
In this system, there were at least three planets, including Aldebaran III. (TOS: "The Deadly Years"}
History[]
HMS New Zealand on a diplomatic mission to Aldebaran
In 2135, the HMS New Zealand was launched from Earth on a diplomatic mission to this system. It was listed on the chart Interstellar Expeditions to Sectors 184/02-185/38: Launched From Sol System, Earth Dates 2123-2190, which was seen on a screen in Jean-Luc Picard's ready room aboard the USS Enterprise-D. (TNG-R: "Up The Long Ladder", okudagram) The system was inhabited by Humans by the 23rd century.
In the 23rd century, a Federation outpost was established on Aldebaran III. (TOS: "The Deadly Years")
In 2257, during the first Federation-Klingon War, this star system was occupied by the Klingons. (DIS: "The War Without, The War Within")
During the 2260s, Janet and Theodore Wallace performed experiments using various carbohydrate compounds to slow down the degeneration of plant life at a Federation outpost on Aldebaran III. (TOS: "The Deadly Years")
In 2345, Michael O'Brien sent a recorded audition of his son Miles O'Brien playing the cello to the Aldebaran Music Academy. (DS9: "Shadowplay")
Products[]
Aldebaran whiskey and Aldebaran drum sets were products made in this system. (ENT: "Zero Hour"; TNG: "Relics")
See also[]
Stellar cartography[]
The Aldebaran system was visible from Earth in the constellation Taurus. It was approximately 67 light years from Sol.
This system was near the Ficus sector. (TNG-R: "Up The Long Ladder", okudagram)
In 2256, the location of Aldebaran (Alpha Tauri) was labeled on the star chart "Alpha/Beta Quadrant Overview" in the ready room aboard the USS Discovery. (DIS: "Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad")
In 2259, the location of this system was labeled on a stellar cartography chart that was seen on the USS Enterprise's ready room viewscreen. This system's symbol had a blue color, indicating that it was affiliated with the United Federation of Planets. (SNW: "Strange New Worlds", "Children of the Comet", "Spock Amok")
In 2293, the location of Aldebaran in the Milky Way Galaxy was labeled on the star chart The Explored Galaxy, which was seen in James T. Kirk's quarters aboard the USS Enterprise-A. (Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, okudagram)
On stardate 1292.4, the location of Aldebaran was labeled in a chart used during a Section 31 Alpha Team briefing. (Star Trek: Section 31)
In 2365, the location of Aldebaran was labeled in a Subspace Comm Net Ops star chart, which was seen in the courtroom on Starbase 173. This system was connected to Daran V and an unnamed location by subspace lines. (TNG: "The Measure Of A Man")
The system's location was labeled in a Federation star chart that was in Fleet Admiral Kirsten Clancy's office at Starfleet Headquarters in 2399 and on the bridge of the USS Titan-A in 2401. The Aldebaran system was in or near to Federation space. (PIC: "Maps and Legends", "The Next Generation", "Disengage")
In 3189, the location of Aldebaran was denoted on a holographic star chart of the galaxy at Federation Headquarters. (DIS: "Scavengers")
Appendices[]
Background information[]
Information on this system was derived from the episodes, from the reference works Star Trek: Star Charts and Stellar Cartography: The Starfleet Reference Library, and from real world sources. The reference works were used extensively in the creation of star charts seen in Star Trek: Discovery, Star Trek: Picard, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Star Trek: Prodigy, and Star Trek: Lower Decks. The real-world information added to the article was current as of 2025.
The name of this star was mentioned at StarTrek.com, where it was identified as a spectral type K5 star and as one of the brightest stars in Earth's night sky. [1](X)
For the remastered episode "Up The Long Ladder", Aldebaran replaced Alderaan.
A scene from the script of TNG: "The Dauphin" would have had the Enterprise scheduled to visit a place called Aldebaran Zeta.
In the first draft script of ENT: "Strange New World", Travis Mayweather told a ghost story about a brain-sucking carnivore on a planet in the "Aldeberan system", though T'Pol refuted the tale, saying there were no such lifeforms in that system. During the episode's development, this ghost story instead became one about George Webb.
In August 2024, an annotated computer paste-up of the star chart from "The Measure Of A Man" was put up for auction in the Entertainment Memorabiliia Live Auction: Los Angeles Summer 2024 by Propstore Auction. [2]
The current location of Aldebaran in the Beta Quadrant was based on the most recent star charts seen in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds and Star Trek: Section 31.
External links[]
- Aldebaran at Memory Beta, the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
- Aldebaran at Wikipedia
- Aldebaran at the Internet Stellar Database