Featured Constellations |
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Gemini is a fairly large star pattern, located
about 25 degrees north of the celestial equator
and thus passing nearly straight overhead for
southern California on early April evenings
(about 9 PM). The visual appearance of Gemini
is one of a few bright stars connected by
chains of fainter ones; one of the stars,
Pollux, is properly of the first magnitude
(1.16), two of the stars are of the second
(Castor, 1.59, and Alhena, 1.93), and four are
of the third. The apparent pairing of Castor
and Pollux, just 4.5 degrees apart, doubtless
led to the "twin" name, although Alhena is
nearly deserving as a "third twin".
Northern hemisphere dwellers unable to see the
deep south's Alpha and Beta Centauri can use
the Castor-Pollux pair as a basis for
imagining, as the sky separation is identical -
although the southern stars are decidedly
brighter. Descending southwest from Pollux and
Castor, two fainter trails of stars mark the
bodies of the twins; a string of stars running
across the bodies (northwest to southeast)
suggest the arms of the brothers Their feet
end in a gentle curve of faint red stars for
brother Castor, and the prominent white star
Alhena for Pollux. Naked eye observers in dark
conditions may note the presence of a misty
spot near Castor's feet - this is the star
cluster M35.
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In the most often told version of Greek mythology, these stars are two sons of Zeus, conceived with the unsuspecting Leda when the god came to her disguised as a swan. What she was doing dating a swan is beyond me - maybe it goosed her? Anyway, The two resulting young men were renown for their fraternal affection, and were honored for their good lives by a place in the heavens. Castor was a horseman, and Pollux a boxer. The name Pollux is derived from Polledeuces, Greek for a boxer; the more modern official name for a boxer, a pugilist, comes from the same root. Arabic astronomers also saw twins here, although the Arabic names for the stars - unusually - are not those we use today. That's a good thing, because if I had to type Al Burj al Jauza and Al Ras al Taum Mukaddin too many times, I would be filing for Workers Compensation.
To find out about celestial objects you can find in our featured constellation, go to Deep Sky Objects.
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