Star Pollux

The star Pollux, also called β Geminorum, is part of the large winter hexagon and the brightest star in the constellation of Gemini.

Facts about Pollux

With an apparent brightness of 1.14mag Pollux belongs to the brightest stars in the sky. Its distance to the earth is 33 light years, which makes it one of the closer stars of the solar environment. Furthermore Pollux shines orange to red with the spectral class K0 and is therefore 32 times brighter than the sun. Pollux has only three times more mass than the Sun, which makes its density very low, which is called the red vacuum. In addition, the surface temperature of Pollux is 4,500 Kelvin, which is very low in contrast to the sun. Since Pollux is nine times larger than the Sun, it is seen as a red giant. So he has reached the end of his life and will end up as a white dwarf.

Visibility of Pollux

Due to the high brightness of the star Pollux it can be found quickly in the night sky. Especially in winter and spring you can see it well in the constellation of Gemini. Furthermore, it is very easy to find it under consideration of the winter hexagon. Pollux can be recognized particularly well because it is located in the close vicinity of Castor.