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public  Greenwich, UK Greenwich, UK  ⓘ
TimezoneEurope/London
Sunrise: 7:17 
Transit: 12:46 
Sunset: 18:15
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All Constellations » Gemini » 

Pollux - β Geminorum (beta Geminorum)

Above the horizon.  Rise: 22:41 | Tran: 7:29 | Set: 16:13
Alt: 44.11°   Az: 260.26°   Direction: West

Pollux, also designated as β Geminorum (beta Geminorum), is a variable and multiple hypergiant star of spectral class K0 in the constellation of Gemini.

Pollux visual magnitude is 1.14, making it the 16th brightest star in the sky. Because of its brightness, Pollux is clearly visible to the naked eye when observed from locations with dark skies, and should be also quite easily visible from light polluted areas.

Image of Pollux - β Geminorum (beta Geminorum) star
DSS2 image of Pollux. The red arrow shows the motion of Pollux during the next 1000 years (-10.47 arcmin in Right Ascension and -0.77 arcmin in declination);

Celestial Coordinates

Apparent

07h 46m 50s
+27° 57’ 52”
03h 32m 59s
11h 19m 50s

J2000

07h 45m 18s
+28° 01’ 33”

Galactic Coordinates

192.23°
23.41°

Finder Chart

Finder chart Pollux - β Geminorum (beta Geminorum) star
Simplified finder chart for Pollux - β Geminorum (beta Geminorum).

Magnitude, Color, Spectral Class

1.14
Hypergiant

1.07
K0III
4743K

The red dot in the diagram below shows where Pollux is situated in the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram.

HR Diagram
H-R diagram showing the position of Pollux. Attribution: Richard Powell / CC BY-SA

Star System Properties

Pollux is a visual double star which can be observed only with the help of very large telescopes. The table below shows key information about the Pollux double sysyem:

1.14
11.34
10.2
201.1 arcsec

Distance, Radial Speed, Proper Motion

Pollux is distant 33.70 light years from the Sun and it is moving far from the Sun at the speed of 3 kilometers per second.

10.34
33.70
3 km/s
-0.628 arcsec/y
-0.046"/y

Alternative Designations

Pollux
β Geminorum
(beta Geminorum)
78 Geminorum
SAO79666
SAO79666

Visibility from Your Location

Today's Pollux - β Geminorum (beta Geminorum) rise, transit and set times from Greenwich, UK are the following (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):

Azimuth: 62.0°
Max altitude: 66.5°
Azimuth: 298.0°