Hello! Welcome to Learn the Sky, my name is Janine and in this video we'll review
how to find Gemini, and the reason we're going over this is because the Gemini
meteor shower is happening December 13 and 14 of 2017, and one of the reasons we
have meteor showers is because the Earth is passing through debris that has been
left over from a comet that has disintegrated in the past. So as Earth
passed through this debris field we get to see this a variety of meteors, and
it's a really spectacular sight to see if you've never seen one, and this
December is a great time because last year when this happens full moon was out
and it just leached out the rest of the meteors but this is not happening this
year. The moon is quiet and we'll have a dark sky as long as the weather is on
your side. So let's review what Gemini looks like and how to find it. so in this
picture we see two constellations, and hopefully your eyes are drawn to these
bright stars, right there, and possibly this bright star and maybe even this celestial
object, and Gemini is one of those constellations that somewhat looks like
what it's supposed to. Most of the time constellations don't really
resemble what they represent, but Gemini is one of those exceptions,
and if you look at this picture can you make out a stick figure or two stick
figures? If so this is what Gemini would look like, and we have two bright stars
that are associated and actually named after the twins, Pollux and Castor. So
Pollux is right here, this bright star, and then Castor is here, and I came up
with a little way to remember the difference between Castor and Pollux.
Castor looks like he has a cast on his leg in the star pattern. So you can
identify this shape down here you kind of see his leg bones
out, that's how you know this is Caster and then this is Pollux. Now out of the two
Pollux is the slightly brighter star. If we want to look at the other
constellation here we have Canis Minor, and the other celestial object is known
as the Beehive cluster in Cancer. So use these different constellations and
objects to help you identify Gemini, but the real key to finding Gemini is
knowing where Orion is. So if we take a look at Orion's star pattern, the shape
that you should see immediately are the three belt stars, and if you can find
that you should also be able to find Rigel and then Betelgeuse. Those are the
two brightest stars supergiant stars in Orion, and Betelgeuse is this orangish
color. So what you want to do is you want to use Rigel, aim up towards Betelgeuse,
and then keep going keep drawing an imaginary line in the sky and it will
point you to Gemini. So let's get some practice with this. Here is a large sky
view of the winter night sky, and hopefully when you look at this you can
find Orion. So Orion is right here, use those belt stars, and then you go from
Rigel up to Betelgeuse, and then it will point you to Gemini. You can see the two
bright stars in Gemini right there, here is Canis Minor, and then there's
the Beehive cluster that we mentioned before, and if we trace out
what these patterns look like Orion can actually point you to many other
constellations. Let's briefly go over that. We have the belt stars, and if you
use about stars aimed down that will point you to Canis Major, which has the
bright star Sirius and Canis Major is known as Orion's large hunting dog, and
Canis Minor, if you used the shoulders of Orion we'll help you find the small
hunting dog Canis Minor, and then we move back to the belt stars and go up over and we
can find to Taurus. Taurus has his v-shaped face
with a red eye, this star is called Aldebaran, and it also has the Pleiades
which is a brilliant star cluster that if you ever get a chance to look at you
totally should through magnification, such as
binoculars or telescope, and then we have Auriga up here. If you use the other side
the left side left lower star so the upper star here that will aim to,
Auriga. I hope this was helpful in order to help you find Gemini. Good luck
looking at the Geminid Meteor Shower, be sure to dress warmly if you live in
those Northern latitudes. I will be watching comfortably from Hawaii even
though it'll still be cold out I'll have my blankets. Thanks so much for watching and good luck!