Gemini (the Twins), the most northerly
constellation of the zodiac, appears here lying on its side, a long
rectangle with the bright stars Castor and Pollux to the left. Castor,
a sextuple star, is on top, Pollux, an orange giant star, below it.
Wasat (Delta) is just down and to the left of center.
Just to the right of Wasat is Mekbuda, Zeta Gem, one of the sky's four
bright Cepheid variable stars.
The constellation's third brightest star,
Alhena, is to the right of these. Mebsuta is up and a bit to the right of
Mekbuda, Tejat to the right of Mebsuta. Propus (Eta) lies just
up and to the right of Tejat (Mu), while Nu Gem is just below Tejat.
Sigma Gem is close to Pollux
on the line between it and Castor. 1 (One) Gem is just up
and to the right of Propus. Al Zirr (Xi) is immediately
below Alhena. The Milky Way runs faintly down the
right hand side of the picture. The open cluster
Messier 35 is seen as a small fuzzy patch up and to the right of Tejat.
Chi-1 and Chi-2
Orionis are the top stars of the twin pairs seen near the right
edge toward the top, and are visible on the
image of Taurus
as well. The Summer Solstice, the position of the Sun on the first
day of summer, is near the upper right corner just up and
to the right of 1 (One) Gem. While classically belonging to Gemini,
the Solstice is technically just across the border into
Taurus. The ecliptic then passes just above
Mebsuta.
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