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Gemini - "The Twins"
March 2001
Gemini, the twins has been associated with the stars Castor and Pollux since ancient times. The Romans saw the twins as Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome. Greek mythology held that they were sons of Leda, the King of Spartas wife, after she was visited by Zeus in the form of the swan Cygnus. Leda laid an egg from which emerged Pollux, Zeus's son, Castor, the son of the King, and also Helen of Troy ( I'm not sure who was her sire). While Pollux was immortal, his brother was not, and rather than be parted from each other, Pollux begged to die with his brother. Zeus took pity on their plight and placed them both into the night sky, to be together forever.
Posiedon made them protectors of sailors, and St Elmo's fire (ball lightning static discharges) that sometimes played in the rigging of sailing ships, is associated with them. They are also said to be representatives of the opposing principals of war and peace, activity and repose (Castor and Pollux respectively).
The base of the constellation is crossed by the Milky Way, and contains several interesting clusters and nebulae, though many are quite faint and require dark skies and a 6 inch telescope and larger. Gemini is also the radient of a very good meteor shower which peaks on the 13th of December in Australia. The planet Pluto was also discovered in this constellation by Clyde Tombaugh on February 19th 1930.
The image above is how I picture the the major stars of the Twins. This view is looking toward the north-west at 8:30 AEST from Brisbane. Click the image for details of Deep Sky objects.
Below are the constellations at the feet of Gemini.
