The AsterNym star registry
Pollux
Pollux: the warm orange star of Gemini
warm orange · Gemini · β Gem
Pollux is a warm orange giant, far along its stellar life in the constellation Gemini, one of the stars with a proper name recognised in the IAU Catalog of Star Names. At magnitude 1.14 it is visible to the naked eye under a dark sky.
Most stars in the sky are anonymous points of light. Pollux is not. Some IAU-recognised names are ancient; others were adopted by the IAU only recently. Either way, the star already has a scientific identity, and a dedication attaches a human story to it.
Real star · Personal dedication · Recorded in the AsterNym registry
See what a dedicated page looks like: preview
Pollux at a glance
- Constellation
- Gemini
- Other name
- β Gem
- Catalogue number
- HIP 37826
- Distance
- ≈ 34 light-years
- Brightness
- Magnitude 1.14 naked-eye
- Star type
- K0 III
- Colour
- warm orange
- Best seen from
- The Northern Hemisphere and lower southern latitudes
- Right ascension
- 07h 45m 19s
- Declination
- +28° 01′ 34″
J2000 catalogue coordinates that can be independently cross-checked against astronomical databases. A planetarium app showing coordinates of date will differ slightly, because proper motion and precession move a star’s apparent position over time.
What kind of star is Pollux?
Pollux is an orange giant. Its surface runs roughly 4,000 to 5,000°C, cool enough that the light carries a visible orange. Colour in a star is a temperature reading rather than a decoration: the hot ones are blue and the cool ones red, the opposite way round to a kitchen tap.
Its colour is not the whole story. An orange star still in the steady part of its life would burn for tens of thousands of millions of years. This one is past that stage, and it is cool at the surface because it has swollen outward, not because it was born this way.
It is a giant, which is what a star becomes when it exhausts the hydrogen in its core. It has swollen outward and cooled at the surface, and it is now brighter than it ever was as a young star. The Sun will do this too, in about five thousand million years.
The light you are looking at is old
The light you can see from Pollux left in 1992, which puts it roughly a lifetime ago. Nobody has invented anything since then that the light knows about; it has simply been travelling.
That delay is the part people find hardest and like most. A star is the one thing you can give someone that was already old before either of you was born and will outlast anything else you could have chosen.
It is also one of the brighter stars in the sky, which is why it carries a proper name at all rather than a catalogue number.
What could a Pollux dedication represent?
Pollux is especially meaningful for someone who:
- · Deserves something older than any gift shop
- · Marks a beginning, an anniversary or a promise
- · Is remembered every time you look up
- · Has a light you want recorded somewhere permanent
Dedication idea
“For the one I think of when I find Gemini in the sky.”
Where can you see Pollux?
It is easy to see from most of the Northern Hemisphere. It can also appear from lower southern latitudes, but it never rises for observers south of about latitude 62°S. It passes directly overhead at latitude 28°N. It stands highest at midnight in January, so January and February evenings are the best time to look. At magnitude 1.14 it is bright enough to hold its own over city lights.
Pollux belongs to Gemini, where it is the brightest star.
What does Pollux mean in astrology?
The immortal twin, "the pugilist". Nature of Mars: the fighter's star: courage and directness, blunter and more combative than his brother.
Projected onto the zodiac the way fixed-star astrology reads any star, Pollux stands at 23° Cancer at the J2000 epoch, and the Sun passes that degree around 13 July in the years around 2000. Fixed-star longitude shifts slowly against the tropical zodiac because of precession, about one degree every seventy-two years, so a natal conjunction must be calculated for the birth year rather than read off this J2000 value or a calendar date.
Traditional interpretations, not facts or predictions. The position and dates are computed.
Dedicate Pollux to someone who matters
A flower fades. A card is eventually put away. A star gives your message a place in the sky.
from$29.95a year
Dedicate Pollux →Real star · your message · a page to share
Your Pollux dedication includes
- Your chosen dedication name
- Your personal message
- Pollux's real astronomical coordinates
- A shareable dedication page
- Its location on the AsterNym Galaxy Map
- An optional printable certificate and gift presentation
Pollux keeps its established astronomical name. Your dedication is a personal commemorative record within the AsterNym registry.
Frequently asked questions about Pollux
- What does Pollux mean in astrology?
- The immortal twin, "the pugilist". Nature of Mars: the fighter's star: courage and directness, blunter and more combative than his brother. Projected onto the zodiac, Pollux stands at 23° Cancer, and the Sun passes that degree each year around 13 July.
- Is Pollux the brightest star?
- Pollux shines at magnitude 1.14 · visible to the naked eye on a clear night, one of the few thousand stars with an officially recognised name.
- How far away is Pollux?
- Pollux is approximately 34 light-years from Earth. The light reaching us tonight began its journey around 34 years ago.
- Which constellation contains Pollux?
- Pollux is the brightest star in Gemini.
- Can everyone see Pollux?
- It is easy to see from most of the Northern Hemisphere. It can also appear from lower southern latitudes, but it never rises for observers south of about latitude 62°S. It passes directly overhead at latitude 28°N. It stands highest at midnight in January, so January and February evenings are the best time to look. At magnitude 1.14 it is bright enough to hold its own over city lights.
- Is dedicating Pollux an official astronomical renaming?
- No. Pollux keeps its internationally recognised astronomical name. An AsterNym dedication records your personal name and message in the AsterNym registry without changing the star's scientific identity.
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