Interesting objects of the constellation Gemini. The stars Pollux and castor

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2019-05-05 16:00:24

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The Twins – one of the zodiacal constellations of the night sky known to man before our era. It is easily visible in the Northern hemisphere from December to may. In clear weather you can see up to 70 stars, the brightest among them Pollux and castor.

Gemini

The Twins castor and Pollux castor and Pollux are the heroes of Greek mythology. They participated in the campaign of the Argonauts, Kalimanski hunting and the Olympic games, which gave Hercules. In Ancient Greece they were considered the saviors of sailors and patron of soldiers in Rome – was a symbol of military courage.

The Constellation was already known in ancient times, and was listed in the "Almagest" of Claudius Ptolemy. According to legend, the sky put him Zeus, tied to each other, the brothers never broke up. With Twins, these stars were compared and the Arabs. The star Pollux they called “the head of the second twin”.

In the sky the Constellation appears at latitudes from +90 to -54 degrees. It covers an area of 514 square degrees and is located in the “company” Cancer, Lynx, Dog, Taurus, Auriga, Orion and the Unicorn.

Pollux star

Alpha Twins

Castor (α Gem) – the alpha and the second brightest star in the constellation Gemini. Spectral type is characterized as A2Vm – blue star main sequence. Its radius is almost three times larger than the Sun, and the temperature is about 9,000 degrees Kelvin. From our planet it is 50 light years. The apparent magnitude of the star 1.58, absolute - 0.59/0.61. Thus, the smaller the numeric value, the higher the value.

Multiple Star castor, this feature was observed in the XVII century. It later turned out that it is not just double, but is a system consisting of three components, each of which is a spectral-binary star. The largest is the castor and that is directly related to Castor b. The period of treatment is about 350 years.

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castor star

There are so-called “a moving group of stars castor”. It's 15 stars, which are combined with alpha Twins gravitational field, and moving in the same direction. They have various sizes, but the same origin and almost the same age. The group of castor includes the star VEGA, Fomalhaut, k Phoenix, α Cepheus, 14 Hare, a few stars and Gliese Weights.

Beta Twins

Mark the stars by letters of the Greek alphabet was invented by the astronomer Johann Bayer, who lived in the XVI-XVII centuries. According to his system, the greater the brilliance (the apparent brightness) are the luminaries, the older letter in the alphabet. Thus, alpha is a most remarkable star in the sky, and then descending.

But Pollux was not so. This is one of the brightest stars in the sky and the brightest in the constellation Gemini. However, it is in second place and listed as “beta”. And all because of the fact that situated to the South of castor on the Ecliptic coordinate system.

brightest stars

Among all the visible luminaries of the night sky, the star Pollux is the 17th place in its brilliance. So, it is superior to the alpha Lion, the southern Fish and the Swan, and Beta of the southern cross. To observe it naked eye, without additional optical devices.

Features Pollux

The Star is an orange giant and belongs to the spectral class K0 IIIb. Her temperature is 4865 degrees Kelvin and an absolute magnitude of 1.09. All these characteristics suggests that the star Pollux is in the final stages of evolution.

She had already departed from the main sequence stars, its hydrogen does not participate in fusion reactions, while remaining “passive”. However, the core consisting of helium, still maintains the reaction. Over time the helium reserves will come to an end, and the star, curled and dropping the shell will turn into a white dwarf with a very faint glow. Occur this conversion shall, within 100 million years.

Now the Pollux luminosity exceeds the sun in 32 and distant from us about forty light-years. It is assumed that it is a variable star, that is, its brilliance is not constant and varies from 1.10 m to 1.17 m. Eleven years ago, scientists discovered that its orbit has an exoplanet orbiting it with a period of 590 days the earth.

Other objects in the constellation

In addition to Pollux and castor in Gemini there are another 12 stars brighter than the third magnitude, a few tens have a magnitude brighter than 6.5 m. About four of them discovered planet. Gemini – perfect for observations of constellations, a large number of objects can be seen even without a telescope, for example, orange k Twins, along with a companion green or spectral-dual Alguno.

Another interesting star visible to the unaided eye – This is not the Twins or the Skip. It is a triple star system with a period of 2,983 earth day. From the Sun it is at a distance of 380 light years. It has varying degrees of Shine from 3.1 m to Z,9 m. The transition from one value to another, it is possible to trace, watching the sun 233 days.

beta-twin

The Star HD 50692, or 37 Twins – yellow dwarf, like our Sun. From Earth it is at a distance of 56 light-years. Its age is over 5.5 billion years, and the weight is almost equal to the sun. In 2001, itthe system was sent a message from a Crimean radar. Delivered to the target it will be in 2057.

Streams geminid

From 4 to 17 December near the star castor is meteor shower geminid, named after the Latin name of the constellation of Twins (Gemini). It is known since the XIX century. His average speed is 35 km/h. It's not too big, as the meteors move in the same direction as the Earth.

the brightest star in the constellation Gemini

The Flow is considered to be one of the most powerful. It often appear bright fireballs and meteors. Peak geminid falls on 13-14 December, this time an hour passes about a hundred meteors. In 2011 it was 200 per hour.


Article in other languages:

AR: https://www.tostpost.com/ar/education/16927-interesting-objects-of-the-constellation-gemini-the-stars-pollux-and-c.html

BE: https://www.tostpost.com/be/adukacyya/32705-c-kavyya-ab-ekty-suzor-ya-dvaynyat-zork-polluks-kastar.html

DE: https://www.tostpost.com/de/bildung/32374-interessante-objekte-das-sternbild-der-zwillinge-die-sterne-pollux-und.html

ES: https://www.tostpost.com/es/la-educaci-n/32253-los-puntos-de-inter-s-de-la-constelaci-n-de-los-gemelos-la-estrella-po.html

HI: https://www.tostpost.com/hi/education/18577-interesting-objects-of-the-constellation-gemini-the-stars-pollux-and-c.html

JA: https://www.tostpost.com/ja/education/16610-interesting-objects-of-the-constellation-gemini-the-stars-pollux-and-c.html

KK: https://www.tostpost.com/kk/b-l-m/33035-yzy-ty-ob-ekt-ler-top-salystyru-zh-ldyz-polluks-pen-kastor.html

PL: https://www.tostpost.com/pl/edukacja/34074-ciekawe-obiekty-w-konstelacji-bli-ni-t-gwiazdy-polluks-i-kastor.html

PT: https://www.tostpost.com/pt/educa-o/33862-pontos-de-interesse-da-constela-o-de-g-meos-estrela-pollux-e-castor.html

TR: https://www.tostpost.com/tr/e-itim/29454-lgin-nesneleri-tak-my-ld-z-kizler-y-ld-zlar-pollux-ve-castor.html

UK: https://www.tostpost.com/uk/osv-ta/33239-c-kav-ob-kti-suz-r-ya-bliznyuk-v-z-rki-polluks-kastor.html

ZH: https://www.tostpost.com/zh/education/3576-pollux.html






Alin Trodden - author of the article, editor
"Hi, I'm Alin Trodden. I write texts, read books, and look for impressions. And I'm not bad at telling you about it. I am always happy to participate in interesting projects."

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