In Greek mythology, Castor and Pollux were twin brothers whose mother was Queen Leda although Castor was the mortal son of King Tyndareus and Pollux the divine son of Zeus. The likelihood is that Bayer simply made a mistake and didn't carefully distinguish which was the brighter star. Some astronomers have suggested that maybe Pollux has since brightened or Castor faded, but both possibilities seem extremely improbable. Surprisingly, Pollux was assigned beta Geminorum by Johann Bayer - the German astronomer who labelled the stars with Greek letters in 1603 - even though it easily outshines Castor. +1.16, Pollux is the brighter while multiple system Castor shines at mag. This bright grouping contains two-standout stars, Castor (α Gem) and Pollux (β Gem). ![]() ![]() Its name is Latin for the twins and it's one of the few constellations in the sky that actually looks like what it suppose to represent. ![]() Gemini is a northern zodiac constellation and one of the 48 constellations described by second century astronomer Ptolemy.
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