HOW DO I SPOT GEMINI?

WHEN: JANUARY TO MARCH

The constellation of Gemini is one of the few that actually looks like what it represents: a pair of twins. Once you know how to spot them, the twins – with their two brightest stars Castor and Pollux – are easy to see from most parts of the world.

Gemini is one of the 13 zodiacal constellations, defined by where they sit in the sky. These constellations all sit within an imaginary line in the sky called the ecliptic, which is the path the Sun traces across the sky in a year. In the northern hemisphere, Gemini is visible all night from January to March, but can be seen until May. This makes January and February, with their long, dark nights, a great time to find it.

To find Gemini, we start at Orion. This constellation is one of the easiest to spot, with the three stars in a row making up Orion’s Belt. In the northern hemisphere during January and February, Orion will be in the southern sky if you look at 9pm, getting more western as the night goes on.

The two brightest stars in Orion are Betelgeuse, its red-looking left shoulder, found above the belt, and Rigel, its blue-hued right leg, below the belt. To find Gemini, draw an imaginary line from Rigel through Betelgeuse, and carry this on. When you get to two bright stars close together, you have found Castor and Pollux.

These two bright stars represent the heads of the twins, so once you’ve found Castor and Pollux, you should be able to spot the rest of the constellation, which sits between the pair of stars and Orion.

If you don’t want to star-hop, you can use the Moon to find Gemini, but only on the 27 January. On this day, the Moon will be right next to the twin stars for most of the evening.