Gemini

Gemini (“The Twins,” i.e. Castor and Pollux), in astronomy, the third sign in the zodiac, denoted by the symbol II. It is also a constellation, mentioned by Eudoxus (4th century B.C.) and Aratus (3rd century B.C.), and catalogued by Ptolemy, 25 stars, Tycho Brahe 25, and Hevelius 38. By the Egyptians this constellation was symbolized as a couple of young kids; the Greeks altered this symbol to two children, variously said to be Castor and Pollux, Hercules and Apollo, or Triptolemus and Iasion; the Arabians used the symbol of a pair of peacocks. Interesting objects in this constellation are: α Geminorum or Castor, a very fine double star of magnitudes 2.0 and 2.8, the fainter component is a spectroscopic binary; η Geminorum, a long period (231 days) variable, the extreme range in magnitude being 3.2 to 4; ζ Geminorum, a short period variable, 10.15 days, the extreme range in magnitude being 3.7 to 4.5; Nova Geminorum, a “new” star discovered in 1903 by H.H. Turner of Oxford; and the star cluster M.35 Geminorum, a fine and bright, but loose, cluster, with very little central condensation.

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