Find it in the sky
Two bright stars side by side, Castor and Pollux, are the twins’ heads; their bodies run down from them in two parallel lines. Between Taurus and Cancer, on February evenings.
Zodiac
Gemini
Gemini: Castor looks like one light but is six stars.
Best in February, around 9 p.m.No. 30 of the 88 constellations by areaBrightest star Pollux (magnitude 1.14)8 stars in this guide
The drawings on these maps are the game’s, and don’t show exact positions in the sky.
Legend
In Greek myth Castor and Pollux are twins: Pollux the immortal son of Zeus, Castor the mortal one, and Pollux shared his immortality with his brother. The Babylonians called the two stars the Great Twins.
Sign
22 May to 21 June. In the real sky the Sun passes in front of Gemini from about 21 June to 21 July.
Its stars
Magnitude says how bright a star looks from here: the smaller the number, the brighter the star.
Propus
Eta Geminorum
- Type
- Red giant
- Distance
- about 380 light years
- Brightness
- magnitude 3.40
- Name
- “The forward foot” (Greek)
Now and then a companion passes in front of it; the eclipses last for weeks.
Tejat
Mu Geminorum
- Type
- Red giant
- Distance
- about 230 light years
- Brightness
- magnitude 2.88
- Name
- An old South Arabian word of unknown meaning
A giant swollen past 100 times the Sun’s size, 1,500 times as bright.
Mebsuta
Epsilon Geminorum
- Type
- Yellow supergiant
- Distance
- about 861 light years
- Brightness
- magnitude 3.06
- Name
- “The outstretched paw” (Arabic)
Since 1943 its spectrum has been one of the fixed marks other stars are classed by.
Castor
Alpha Geminorum
- Type
- White star
- Distance
- about 49 light years
- Brightness
- magnitude 1.58
- Name
- Named for Zeus’ twin son; in Arabic “the head of the foremost twin”
One point of light, but six stars in three pairs.
Pollux
Beta Geminorum
- Type
- Orange giant
- Distance
- about 34 light years
- Brightness
- magnitude 1.14
- Name
- Castor’s twin in myth
The closest red giant to the Sun.
Wasat
Delta Geminorum
- Type
- Yellow-white star
- Distance
- about 61 light years
- Brightness
- magnitude 3.53
- Name
- “Middle” (Arabic); of what is unclear
So near the ecliptic that the Moon and the Sun can pass in front of it.
Mekbuda
Zeta Geminorum
- Type
- Yellow supergiant
- Distance
- about 1,120 light years
- Brightness
- magnitude 3.93
- Name
- “The lion’s folded paw” (Arabic)
A pulsing star whose beat grows 3.1 seconds shorter every year.
Alhena
Gamma Geminorum
- Type
- White star
- Distance
- about 109 light years
- Brightness
- magnitude 1.92
- Name
- “The brand” (Arabic), on a camel’s neck
Running out of hydrogen at its core, it has become a subgiant.
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Sources: constellation areas follow the International Astronomical Union (IAU) boundaries; star values come from Wikipedia’s articles, based on Hipparcos and Gaia; the Sun’s dates come from EarthSky. Distances are rounded.