Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Gemini, the triplets?


The last week of April and the first week of May find Mars moving past the twin stars of Gemini, Castor and Pollux. On April 27, the Red Planet forms an interesting squashed isosceles triangle with those two similarly bright objects. A straight line can then be drawn from Pollux through Mars to the brighter star Procyon in Canis Minor. On May 3, Mars moves to form a straight line with Castor and Pollux. All three objects form the "triplets of Gemini" but only for 1 night.

Such is our view from Earth...

1 comment:

Jeff said...

Thanks to The Curious Skywatcher for this blog entry. We have enjoyed watching this progression over the past week. Fortunately the weather has cooperated for quite a few of the evenings during which this event is occuring. Please keep posting about these interesting celestial events. They are being read and enjoyed by others who are curious and awed by the ever-changing sights in the nightly skies.