Posts Tagged ‘Pollux’
EarthSky Tonight—December 6, Winter Circle up by
Courtesy of EarthSky A Clear Voice for Science Visit EarthSky at www.EarthSky.org You will have to stay up until 9 or 10 p.m. tonight to see the exceptionally brilliant and huge Winter Circle filling up the eastern portion of sky. This famous sky pattern is not a constellation. It is an asterism: a noticeable pattern on the sky’s dome. In this case, the pattern is made of the brightest stars of winter, in many different constellations. From a dark sky, you will see the Milky Way’s hazy band ... Full Story
Earthsky Tonight—May 18, Moon near Mars, Castor,
Courtesy of EarthSky A Clear Voice for Science www.EarthSky.org At nightfall, the waxing crescent moon lines up with Castor and Pollux, the two brightest stars in the constellation Gemini the Twins. People often refer to these stars as ‘The Twins’ but they aren’t really twins at all. At a distance of about 34 light-years, Pollux wins acclaim as the closest giant star to our solar system. It’s one of the very few giant stars in our galaxy known to harbor a planet. Castor is farther ... Full Story
Earthsky Tonight—May, 17, Moon near Venus, Castor
Courtesy of EarthSky A Clear Voice for Science www.EarthSky.org This evening after dark look in the west to find a lovely waxing crescent moon in front of the constellation Gemini, also known as the Twins. The Gemini Twins – Castor and Pollux – stand upright upon the horizon at early evening. As evening deepens into late night, Gemini slowly but surely sinks beneath the horizon, to disappear from the sky by around 1:00 a.m. tomorrow morning. Can you identify the stars Castor and Pollux ... Full Story
Earthsky Tonight — March 25, 2010: Moon and Mars
Courtesy of EarthSky A Clear Voice for Science www.EarthSky.org If you observed the moon last night, you know that the planet Mars appeared to the upper left of the moon. This evening, you will find Mars as a bright orangish “star” to the upper right of the moon. You will need a medium sized telescope and good seeing conditions to see much on Mars, but a small telescope or even a good pair of binoculars will show you many features on the moon. The large dark spots are lava plains or ... Full Story
Earthsky Tonight — March 24, Moon close to Mars
Courtesy of EarthSky A Clear Voice for Science www.EarthSky.org If you have been tracking the moon over the past few evenings, you know that it has been passing through some of the major players in the late winter, early spring skies. It skimmed the Pleiades star cluster on Saturday, then it plodded through Taurus the Bull, across Gemini the Twins and after midnight tonight it slips into Cancer the Crab. However, unlike Taurus and Gemini, Cancer is a very faint constellation, often not ... Full Story
