Aldebaran (also known as Alpha Tauri) is a binary star system located about 65.1 light years from Earth. Aldebaran is the brightest star in the constellation Taurus and one of the brightest stars in the night sky. Because of its location in the head of Taurus, it has historically been called the Bull's Eye. Aldebaran has the appearance of being the brightest member of the more scattered Hyades cluster, which is the closest star cluster to Earth. However, it is merely located in the line of sight between the Earth and the Hyades, and is actually an independent star.
Encountered in almost all the Star Trek series, this system was the location of the Aldebaran colony and home to a variety of animals and products, such as the Aldebaran mud leech, the Aldebaran serpent, Aldebaran whiskey and the Aldebaran shellmouth.
Dr. Leonard McCoy once commented that Spock was "as tight-lipped as an Aldebaran shellmouth", when he refused to talk about his pon farr or 'time of mating'.
Aldebaran is actually one of the easiest stars to find in the night sky, partly due to its brightness and partly due to its spatial relation to one of the more noticeable asterisms in the sky. If one follows the three stars of Orion's belt from left to right (in the Northern Hemisphere) or right to left (in the Southern), the first bright star found by continuing that line is Aldebaran.
Aldebaran mud leech