Star profile
Mebsuta
Epsilon Geminorum · Gemini
Highly luminous starWhat is Mebsuta
Mebsuta spreads its white A-type light 845 light-years away in the body of Gemini. Its name comes from the Arabic «Al-Mabsūṭa», «the outstretched one», referring to the extended paw of a celestial lion in a Bedouin figure that predates the Greek myth of Castor and Pollux. It is a luminous supergiant whose light, having departed when the Iberian Christian kingdoms were taking shape after the year 1000, crosses the Gould Belt — that band of young hot stars wrapping our region of the galactic disc.
Where it is and when to see it
Mebsuta lies in the northern celestial hemisphere. It is visible to the naked eye under a dark sky. Its best month of the year is December: the Sun sits at the opposite point of the sky and the star culminates around midnight. How high it climbs above the horizon depends on the latitude you watch from.
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A public signature from a real person. The chosen name is a symbolic denomination within Stelvia, with no official standing or IAU recognition: the sky is not for sale and belongs to no one.
Astronomical data for Mebsuta
- Constellation
- Gemini
- Apparent magnitude
- 3.06
- Distance
- 845.1 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 100.983° · Dec 25.131°
- Catalogue
- HIP 32246 · HD 48329
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Other stars in Gemini
Gemini has 74 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- PolluxBeta Geminorum1.16
- CastorAlpha Geminorum1.58
- AlhenaGamma Geminorum1.93
- Castor BAlpha Geminorum2.85
- TejatMu Geminorum2.87
- PropusEta Geminorum3.31
- AlzirrXi Geminorum3.35
- WasatDelta Geminorum3.50