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A Field Book of the Stars/Gemini

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3445529A Field Book of the Stars — GeminiWilliam Tyler Olcott

GEMINI (jem'-i-ni)— THE TWINS. (Face West.)

Location.—A line drawn from (β) to (κ) Ursæ Majoris and prolonged an equal distance ends near Castor, in Gemini. Gemini is characterized by two nearly parallel rows of stars. The northern row if extended would reach Taurus, the southern one Orion. Note the fine cluster 35. M. Herschel discovered Uranus in 1781 a short distance southwest of it. Two wonderful streams of little stars run parallel northwest on each side of the cluster. The cross indicates the spot where the sun appears to be when it is farthest north of the equator, June 21st. Castor is a fine double for a telescope, and Pollux has three little attendant stars. An isosceles triangle is formed by Castor. Aldebaran in Taurus, and Capella in Auriga. There is a record of an occultation in Gemini noted about the middle of the fourth century B.C.