The Story
Castor and Pollux were twins and heroes in the days of ancient Greece. Both were mighty warriors, but each had his own special talent. Castor was known as a great horse trainer, while Pollux was a skilled and powerful boxer.
They were handsome, but their sister Helen was even more good-looking. It was Helen who ran away with Prince Paris and started the Trojan War.
But before that, she involved her brothers in a similar adventure. The Greek hero Theseus saw her beauty and decided to kidnap her. Castor and Pollux hurried to their little sister’s rescue and brought her home safely.
The twins were also involved in another great adventure: They were the first to come when Jason asked for help in finding, and winning, the Golden Fleece.
They aided Jason throughout that famous adventure, but especially when his ship, the Argo, arrived at the island of cruel King Amycus. The Argonauts were resting peacefully on the beach when the mighty giant and his bullying friends arrived.
Amycus shouted at them, saying nobody could come to his land without boxing with him. Anyone who lost in this boxing match would die, Amycus promised, and everyone with him would die, too.
But Pollux calmly stepped forward and accepted the challenge, then defeated the giant with one powerful blow. The Argonauts went on their way with no more trouble from that bully!
During the voyage of the Argo, the twins gained a reputation as good luck for sailors. When a storm came up and it seemed the ship might sink, the musician Orpheus took out his harp and played a song to the gods, asking for help. The rain and wind ended, the seas calmed, and a bright star appeared on the foreheads of each of the brothers.
Because of that, whenever the mysterious bright lights we now call “St. Elmo’s Fire” appeared around the masts of ships, the ancient sailors would say it was Castor and Pollux, coming to make sure they were safe.
When Castor was finally killed in battle, Pollux wept to be separated from his brother. Zeus kindly put them in the heavens where they could be together forever.
And each of the twins still has a bright star on his forehead.
The Stars
To find Gemini in the autumn or winter night skies, stand facing north and look for Polaris and the Big Dipper. Draw an imaginary line using the two stars that form the bottom of the Big Dipper heading west (to your left). If you hold your fists out at arm’s length to measure, that line will take you to a pair of bright stars, about five or six fist-widths from the Dipper and about half a fist apart. Those are Castor and Pollux, the heads of the twins. Their bodies point away from the Dipper and towards Orion.
Castor is the dimmer of the two stars, the one to the right if you’re facing north. It is about 45 light years away. But Castor isn’t a single star -- if you look at it through a telescope, you’ll see two stars. What you probably won’t see is that there’s another star, so that Castor actually is three stars, revolving around each other. But wait, those aren’t regular stars -- they’re each double stars! So Castor isn’t even three single stars -- it’s really six!
If you take a telescope, or even a good pair of binoculars, and look down at Castor’s foot, you’ll find a cluster of stars called M35 right next to it. (The star which makes up his foot is called Eta Geminorum and is a red giant.)
The second week of December is a good time to look at Gemini, because that’s when the Geminid star shower takes place. The Geminids can produce an average of one shooting star per minute at their height, around December 13, but you’ll get a good show anytime between December 9 and 17, especially if you get away from city lights and find a time when the moon isn’t too close to Gemini.
The meteorites aren’t coming from Gemini, of course. They’re particles of an old comet. But they come from Gemini’s part of the sky, so, if you find Gemini, you’ll know where to look for shooting stars in December!
Text copyright 2006, Mike Peterson - Artwork copyright 2006, Dylan Meconis