Moon and Gemini

Several of the brightest stars in the night sky are really systems of at least two stars. But only one of those systems is known to contain six stars: Castor, the fainter “twin” of Gemini. It’s to the left of the gibbous Moon as they climb into good view late tonight, and to the upper left of Gemini’s brighter twin, Pollux. Seen across 50 light-years of space, the light from all six stars blurs together to form a single point. But binoculars reveal two points, known as Castor A and Castor B. Castor A is the brighter of the two. Because of our viewing angle, the distance between the two pairs is getting bigger, so it’s easier to see them as separate points of light. It turns out that A and B are both binaries – each of them consists of two stars. The stars in each pair are quite close together, so there’s no way to see them individually. Instead, their dual nature is revealed only by sensitive instruments. One star in each pair is bigger, hotter, and brighter than the Sun. The other star in each pair is much smaller, cooler, and fainter than the Sun – a cosmic ember known as a red dwarf. Castor’s third pair is Castor C. It’s a long way away from the other two. And both of its stars are red dwarfs, so the pair is quite faint – you need a telescope to pick it out. Even so, it helps make Castor the busiest bright star system in the night sky – three pairs of “twins” for the twins’ constellation. Script by Damond Benningfield