Gemini (Constellation): Difference between revisions

Gemini lies between Taurus to the west and Cancer to the east, withAuriga and Lynx to the north and Monoceros and Canis Minor to the south.

The Sun resides in the astrological sign of Gemini from June 20 to July 20 each year (though the zodiac dates it May 22 - June 21).[4] By mid August, Gemini will appear along the eastern horizon in the morning sky prior to sunrise. The best time to observe Gemini at night is overhead during the months of January and February. By April and May, the constellation will be visible soon after sunset in the west.

The easiest way to locate the constellation is to find its two brightest stars Castor and Pollux eastward from the familiar “V” shaped asterismof Taurus and the three stars of Orion’s belt. Another way is to mentally draw a line from the Pleiades star cluster located in Taurus and the brightest star in Leo, Regulus. In doing so, you are drawing an imaginary line that is relatively close to the ecliptic, a line which intersects Gemini roughly at the midpoint of the constellation, just below Castor and Pollux. The constellation contains 85 stars visible to observation on Earth without a telescope.

To look at Gemini is to look away from the Milky Way; as a result, there are comparatively few deep-sky objects of note. The Eskimo Nebula and Medusa Nebula,[[Messier 35]] , and Geminga are those that attract the most attention. The Eskimo and Medusa nebulae are both planetary nebulae, the one approximately 2,870 light years away and the other 1,500 light years distant. M35 is an open star cluster which was discovered in the year 1745 by Swiss astronomer Philippe Loys de Chéseaux. And Geminga is a neutron star approximately 550 light years from Earth. Other objects of note are NGC 2129, NGC 2158, NGC 2266, NGC 2331, NGC 2355, and NGC 2395. <ref>[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gemini_%28constellation%29 Gemini]</ref>