By Prashant Naik
The chart above shows the night sky over Shillong during the month of March 2020 at 8 p.m. Shillong being at 25.5o N latitude, we see mostly northern constellations. The E-W line shows the celestial equator and the line cutting it shows the zodiac line or the sun’s apparent path. The capital letters indicate the name of constellations and the other letters indicate the prominent stars. Planet Venus will be visible in the western sky for a short time during the early night hours.
The prominent constellations visible are, Orion Leo, Canis minor, Cetus, Draco, Taurus, Canis Major, Virgo, Gemini, Auriga, Ursa major, Ursa minor, Hydra, Perseus Cepheus and Cassiopeia.
The constellation of the month is Gemini or the twins. In Babylonian astronomy, the stars Castor and Pollux were known as the Great Twins (MUL.MASH.TAB.BA.GAL.GAL). The Twins were regarded as minor gods and were called Meshlamtaea and Lugalirra, meaning respectively ‘The One who has arisen from the Underworld’ and the ‘Mighty King’. Both names can be understood as titles of Nergal, the major Babylonian god of plague and pestilence, who was king of the Underworld.
In Greek mythology, Gemini was associated with the myth of Castor and Pollux, collectively known as the Dioscuri. When Castor died, because he was mortal, Pollux begged his father Zeus to give Castor immortality, and he did, by uniting them together in the heavens.
Gemini is one of the constellations of the zodiac, where it lies between Taurus and Cancer. Gemini is most famous for stars á, Castor, and â, Pollux. Castor, the fainter, appears as a star of mag 1.62. It actually consists of three spectroscopic binaries (mag 1.97, 2.95 and 9.08). All six stars form a single, complex system, which is at a distance of about 45 light years. Pollux is the brightest member of the constellation, a mag 1.16 K0 star, 35 light years distant but intrinsically dimmer than the Castor system.
Alhena is an A type star of mag 1.93 at a distance of 105 light years. µ,Tejat Posterior, is a variable with a mean mag of 2.92 at 160 light years and å, Mebsuta, is a mag 3, G8 star more than 1000 light years from the Sun.
The constellation includes the beautiful open star cluster, M35, best seen with low-power binoculars. Neptune and Pluto were discovered when passing through Gemini.
Full moon will be on March 9 and new moon will be on March 24. The spring equinox where day and night are equal will be on March 21.