Gemini Constellation: The Ultimate Guide

In ancient Egypt, the first time Gemini appeared was in the "Dendera Zodiac," a calendar that contained all the constellations of the zodiac from Egyptian perception.

It is a circular calendar of more than 2000 years marked by zodiac constellations.

In Egyptian astrology, a man and a woman holding hands and looking in the same direction represented Gemini's constellation, called 'Pimahi,' which means 'the Union.'

In this culture, two human figures represent Gemini, symbolizing the idea of the "Ka" or "double spirit" that signifies earthly life and spiritual life.

In Greek mythology, the constellation Gemini is related to the story of the twin brothers Castor and Pollux.

In the myth, Castor was a great horseman mortal son of King Tyndareus, and Pollux was a great fighter immortal son of Zeus.

Despite being the children of different parents, both were identical twins who had an unbreakable bond.

In one of his many battles Castor, who was not immortal like his brother, died. In desperation, Pollux asked his father Zeus to revive him.

Zeus agrees to immortalize Castor and Pollux for eternity, as long as they spend half of their time on Earth and the other half among the stars in the sky.

On March 13, 1781, William Herschell, one of the most important astronomers in history, used the coordinates of the constellation Gemini to try to find that planet. To everyone's surprise, he succeeded.

This planet would be named Uranus. More than a century later, in 1930, Clyde Tombaugh analyzing a series of photographic plates of the constellation Gemini, would find the planet (now planet to a dwarf) Pluto.

Recently NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) announced the discovery of an exoplanet three times larger than Jupiter orbiting the star Pollux.

It is one of the closest exoplanets to our solar system, only 34 light-years away.

Gemini is in quadrant NQ2, the second quadrant of the northern hemisphere. Like other constellations of the zodiac, Gemini is visible at latitudes between -60° and +90°, which means that we can observe the constellation in the night sky from almost every part of the world. The only exception is Antarctica.

Gemini is visible from North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia.

In the northern hemisphere, Gemini is visible during the autumn and winter months. In the southern hemisphere, it is visible in the summer.

Being a zodiac constellation, the Sun passes through that area, obstructing its visibility for 30 days. Therefore, it is impossible to see this constellation at the end of June and the first 20 days of July. The best month to see it is in February.

Gemini is in the second quadrant of the northern hemisphere (NQ2), and to observe it with telescopes. You must position yourself at latitudes between + 90 ° and -60 °.

The easiest way to find it is with the help of the constellation Orion. Suppose we draw a parallel line in the middle of the three brightest stars in Orion and follow it down. In that case, we will find the two brightest stars in Gemini, Castor and Pollux. From there, it is easier to visualize the rest of the constellation.

It is a vast constellation occupying an area of 514 square degrees.

The bordering constellations of Gemini are Auriga, Cancer, Canis Minor, Lynx, Monoceros, Orion, and Taurus.

It also belongs to the family of zodiac constellations, comprising: Aries, Taurus, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpius, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces.

The brightest stars in Gemini are Castor, Pollux, Alhena, Mebsuta, Tejat Posterior, Tejat Prior, Alzirr, Wasat, κ Geminorum, λ Geminorum, Propus, Mekbuda, τ Geminorum, U Geminorum.

Pollux and Castor are the two brightest stars in Gemini.

It contains ten stars with names assigned by the International Astronomical Union (IAU).

These stars are: Alhena, Alzirr, Castor, Jishui, Mebsuta, Mekbuda, Pollux, Propus, Tejat and Wasat.

Within a constellation, there are also various binary stars, which are the systems of 2 stars. Also, Geminis encompasses variable stars that change their magnitude (brightness) during the year. Some of these stars can get twice as brighter or dimmer.

Officially, Gemini contains 119 registered stars, of which 35 make up the "Main Stars."

Pollux is an orange giant star and the brightest in the constellation Gemini. Its distance from Earth is 34 light-years, and, in turn, it is the closest giant star to the Sun.

Calculations and measurements made with telescopes and spectroscopes in low Earth orbit suggest that Pollux is nine times bigger than the Sun and has twice its mass.

This star has a planet orbiting around it which is 2.5 times the mass of Jupiter and would be a gas giant; his name is Pollux B.

It is the second brightest star in the constellation, located at 51 light-years. It is not a single star but rather a "sextuple" star.

The two dominant stars are white main sequence stars that are both binary stars and, in turn, a third binary star more distant and complete the entire star system.

Together with the star Pollux, they make up the two main stars of the constellation Gemini.

Alhena is 105 light-years from our solar system. It is a spectroscopic binary star with the stellar classification A1 IV. It is the third brightest star in the constellation Gemini and

Although it is 160 times more luminous than the Sun and has a mass of 2.8 solar masses, it is surpassed in brightness by Pollux and Castor because they are much closer.

Located 903 light-years from Earth, Mebsuta is the fifth brightest star in Gemini's constellation. It consists of a yellow supergiant of the spectral type G8Ib, 105 times bigger than the Sun, 8,500 times more radiant, and 19 times heavier.

Its name comes from the ancient Arab tradition where this star, together with Mekbuda (ζ Geminorum), formed a lion's claws.

With an apparent magnitude of 3.5, Wasat is a binary star that lies 59 light-years from Earth.

Wasat A is the dominant star and is a white subgiant of spectral type F0IV. It is 50% larger than the Sun and 55% more luminous.

Wasat B is the secondary star that orbits Wasat B every 1500 years, and it is an orange dwarf seven times smaller than the Sun.

In 1972 the SAS-2 satellite detected a solid gamma-ray emission that did not match any object known up to that time. It emitted a faint X-ray signal every 0.237 seconds. Observations made with the COS-B satellite of the ESA (European Space Agency) confirmed that it was a single neutron star.

This pulsar is invisible to radio waves and is only visible through visible light, something unique. This phenomenon may be because the radio wave beam from the pulsar does not sweep over the area where the Earth is, and we can only see it from "above."

Geminga may be a neutron star left over from a supernova that occurred 300,000 years ago. It also has a planet 70% larger than Earth orbiting it.

Messier 35 is an open cluster containing more than 2000 stars discovered in 1745 by Philippe Loys de Chéseaux. This cluster is between 95 and 110 million years old. It has yellow and orange giant stars, making it an ancient cluster in the galaxy.

NGC 2392 can be observed with a small hobbyist telescope. It is a planetary nebula at a distance of 5,000 light-years and 10,000 years old formed by the ejection of matter from a red giant in the final stage.

This nebula seen from the ground resembles a person's face covered with a coat, hence Eskimo Nebula.

Like M35, it is an open star cluster that contains more than 10,000 stars, and due to the presence of yellow giants, it is an ancient cluster of at least one billion years.

A planetary nebula with an irregular disk shape is located at 3,900 light-years. It is only visible with telescopes with more than 100 magnifications.

It is a reddish planetary nebula, and as the name implies, it resembles the shape of a medusa's hair. It is at a distance of 1500 light-years.

The constellation of Gemini is associated with a meteor shower called "The Geminids" that occurs in the first two weeks of December.

The ice fragments that give rise to this shower of stars come from the asteroid (3200) Phaethon, and next to the Quadrantids, it is one of the most active meteor showers.

• In ancient times, sailors believed that they would have a good trip if they managed to see the two stars of the constellation Gemini (Castor and Pollux). Still, if they only saw one of the two stars, this presaged terrible luck.

• Despite being dissent for thousands of years, different cultures have associated the constellation of Gemini with similar things, such as brotherhood, love between man and woman, the duality between earthly and spiritual life. In Chinese culture, it was associated with good and evil.

• The constellation of Gemini belongs to the family of constellations of the zodiac.
• Gemini means "Twins" due to the Greek myth of Castor and Pollux's twin brothers.
• The two brightest stars in the constellation Gemini are Pollux and Castor.
• Geminis is visible in every country in the world in autumn and winter. Still, February is the best time to see it.
• It contains many stars and fascinating deep-sky bodies, such as the Eskimo Nebula or the Jellyfish Nebula.
• A meteor shower occurs within the constellation regions; these are the Geminids and are visible during the first weeks of December.

1. https://www.constellation-guide.com/
2. https://earthsky.org/
3. https://www.space.com/
4. http://www.seasky.org/constellations/constellations.html
5. https://nineplanets.org/