Constellation Chart

The Twins

Gemini, the Twins, is an only half-brothers. They share the same mother (Leda) and different fathers. Castor's father was Tyndareus, a king of Sparta, and the father of Pollux was Zeus. Alpha Geminorum Castor marks the head of older, and beta Gem Pollux indicates that of shorter. But Pollux is the brighter of the two stars with a visual magnitude of 1.2, and Castor has a magnitude of 1.6. Castor is a well-known binary system with visual magnitudes are 2.0 and 2.9, and known that they are spectroscopic binary each other. In fact, the entire system is comprised of six stars, including another spectroscopic binary system of red dwarfs with a magnitude of 9, that revolving around visual binary system. The constellation is also famous for a major meteoric swarm, alpha Geminids, has the peak of appearance around Dec 13 every year. It shows as many meteors as Gamma Persei.

Planetary Nebula's in Gemini

NGC2371

NGC2371 is a very tiny planetary nebula squeezed between Castor and Pollux in the constellation of Gemini. The nebula has a brightness of 13th magnitude and a diameter of only 0.9-arc minute. You might need a fairly large-sized telescope with a magnifying power over 100 to see it. A long exposed image shows you a bit bright central nucleus and an asymmetric rounded structure that surrounds the nucleus. Same as many other planetary nebulae, this NGC2371 is an appearance of a dead star with its matter gushed out in space.

IC443

You can see two orange stars with 3rd magnitudes paralleled in east west direction at the leg of Pollux, the shorter brother of twins. An invisible H-alpha diffused nebula of IC443 is positioned between those stars. The eastern edge of IC443 takes a loop structure, and it's considered that a supernova explosion made the shape, gaseous matter is spreading out. The whole shape gave a nickname of "Jerry fish Nebula", enjoyed only in long-exposure films. And there is very fine reddish gas at the east of IC443.

NGC2392

The planetary nebula began forming about 10,000 years ago, when the dying star began flinging material into space. The nebula is composed of two elliptically shaped lobes of matter streaming above and below the dying star. In this photo, one bubble lies in front of the other, obscuring part of the second lobe.

Scientists believe that a ring of dense material around the star's equator, ejected during its red giant phase, created the nebula's shape. This dense waist of material is plodding along at 72,000 miles per hour (115,000 kilometers per hour), preventing high-velocity stellar winds from pushing matter along the equator. Instead, the 900,000-mile-per-hour (1.5-million-kilometer-per-hour) winds are sweeping the material above and below the star, creating the elongated bubbles. The bubbles are not smooth like balloons but have filaments of denser matter. Each bubble is about 1 light-year long and about half a light-year wide. Scientists are still puzzled about the origin of the comet-shaped features in the "parka." One possible explanation is that these objects formed from a collision of slow- and fast-moving gases.

The Eskimo Nebula is about 5,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Gemini.

PLN205+14 1

This is a large planetary nebula lying around south of Gemini nearby Canis Minor. You can estimate about 5 arc minutes in diameter from the image, it's one of the largest planetary nebulae in heavens. But strange to say, the object is not very well known so doesn't be registered in NGC catalogue. The code of this nebula "PLN" is a minor catalogue of "Strasbourg Catalogue of Planetary Nebulae" that contains 1445 planetary nebulae. The nebula has an apparent shape of circle, but fairly bright in southeast part so this image shows like the crescent moon. And the nebula is often called "Medusa Nebula". Medusa is a name of monster exterminated by Perseus, but a reason why the nebula has such a nickname is not clear.

Cluster's in Gemini

NGC2420

NGC2420 is a compact open cluster lying at 4 degrees east of delta Geminorum that forms the body of younger brother of the twins, Pollux. The cluster has 10-arc minutes diameter and 8th magnitude, contains about 100 fine member stars. The stellar density of NGC2420 is fairly high, it looks like a dimmed nebula with binoculars. And you can enjoy several bright stars scattered in front of the nebulous faint light of other stars through telescopes with an aperture of about 3 to 4 inches or so. It is certain that the cluster compares unfavorably with a major open cluster of M35 in Gemini, but it may give you great interest to compare these clusters in winter skies.

M35

This picture shows around Castor's feet, an older brother of Gemini. You can see M35 (NGC2168) with medium-sized diameter. This is an open cluster easily enjoyed in small scopes, extremely attractive, with curving series of glittering stars. Several hundred of stars are contained in the cluster, which is about 2600 light-years away. Another small cluster can be detected at just SW of M35, it's NGC2158. The cluster is characteristic because many reddish stars are included in that, about 15 thousand light years away.

Planetary Destinations In Gemini

HD 49674

Parent Star: HD 49674 (G5 V) in the constellation of Gemini is located at a distance of 132.7 Light Years from our Solar system Co-ordinates of Right Ascension: 06 51 30.5164 & Declination: 40 52 03.923. The apparent Magnitude of the star is 8.35. The Inner Edge of Habitability Zone is 0.46 AU & the Outer Edge of Habitability Zone: 1.44 AU orbiting around HD 49674 is planet HD 49674b the planet is believed to be a Dark Hot Jupiter and its exitence has been confirmed. The Planet is believed to Orbit the star every 4.948 Days and the planet is not within the habitability zone.

HD 50554

Parent Star: HD 50554 (G4 IV) in the constellation of Gemini is located at a distance of 101.2 Light Years from our Solar system Co-ordinates of Right Ascension: 06 54 42.8253 & Declination: 24 14 44.011 . The apparent Magnitude of the star is 6.81. The Inner Edge of Habitability Zone is 0.57 AU & the Outer Edge of Habitability Zone: 1.79 AU orbiting around HD 50554 is planet HD 50554b the planet is believed to be a Water Cloud Jovian, Eccentric planet and its exitence has been confirmed. The Planet is believed to be made up of white water, ice, clouds at a Mean Orbital Distance and passes through the habitability zone. The Planet orbits around the star every 1279 ± 41 Days.

HD 59686

Parent Star: HD 59686 (G4 IV) in the constellation of Gemini is located at a distance of 300.07 Light Years from our Solar system Co-ordinates of Right Ascension: 07 31 48.3969 & Declination: +17 05 09.765 . The apparent Magnitude of the star is 5.45. The Inner Edge of Habitability Zone is 4.33 AU & the Outer Edge of Habitability Zone: 13.5 AU orbiting around HD 59686 is planet HD 59686b the planet is believed to be a Clarified Jovian planet and its exitence has been confirmed. The Planets Appearance is Blue and cloudless at Mean Orbital Distance outside the habitability zone. The planets Orbits around the star every 303 Days.

HD 62509

Parent Star: HD 62509 (Spectral Type K0IIIb ) in the constellation of Gemini is located at a distance of 310.34 (± 1) pc from our Solar system Co-ordinates of Right Ascension: 07 45 18 & Declination: +28 01 34. The apparent Magnitude of the star is V = 1.15 . The Inner Edge of Habitability Zone is unknown & the Outer Edge of Habitability Zone: Unknown orbiting around HD 62509 is planet HD 62509b the planet is believed to be a Clarified Jovian planet and its exitence has been confirmed. The Planets Appearance is Blue and cloudless at Mean Orbital Distance most likely outside the habitability zone. The planets Orbits around the star every 589.64 (± 0.81) days. The mass of the planetary body is 2.3 (± 0.45) MJ and was Discovered in 2006. Additional Designations: BET Gem