..... Click the link for more information. lying on the ecliptic ecliptic , the great circle on the celestial sphere that lies in the plane of the earth's orbit (called the plane of the ecliptic). Because of the earth's yearly revolution around the sun, the sun appears to move in an annual journey through the heavens with the
..... Click the link for more information. (the sun's apparent path through the heavens) between Taurus and Cancer, N of Canis Minor; it is one of the constellations of the zodiac zodiac [Gr. zoion=animal], in astronomy, zone of the sky that includes about 8° on either side of the ecliptic. The apparent paths of the sun, the moon, and the major planets all fall within this zone.
..... Click the link for more information. . Gemini is traditionally depicted as two men. The two brightest stars in Gemini, Castor Castor , bright star in the constellation Gemini; Bayer designation α Geminorum; 1992 position R.A. 7h34.1m, Dec. +31°54'. Slightly dimmer than Pollux, with which it forms the Twins, Castor has an apparent magnitude of 1.
..... Click the link for more information. and Pollux Pollux, brightest star in the constellation Gemini; Bayer designation Beta Geminorum; 1992 position R.A. 7h44.8m, Dec. +28°03'. An orange giant of spectral class K0 III, it is the nearest giant star, lying at a distance of 35 light-years.
..... Click the link for more information. (north of the bright star Procyon in Canis Minor), are two of the brightest stars in the sky and were identified by the Greeks with two children, in most accounts the twin sons of Zeus and Leda. The Egyptians identified the two stars with a pair of young goats. An annual meteor shower meteor shower, increase in the number of meteors observed in a particular part of the sky. The trails of the meteors of a meteor shower all appear to be traceable back to a single point in the sky, known as the radiant point, or radiant.
..... Click the link for more information. known as the Geminids appears to radiate from this constellation during the second week in December. Owing to the precession of the equinoxes precession of the equinoxes, westward motion of the equinoxes along the ecliptic. This motion was first noted by Hipparchus c.120 B.C. The precession is due to the gravitational attraction of the moon and sun on the equatorial bulge of the earth, which causes the
..... Click the link for more information. , the summer solstice now lies in Gemini, rather than in Cancer as it did 2,000 years ago. Gemini reaches its highest point in the evening sky in February.
Gemini
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Gemini
Series of 12 two-person spacecraft launched into Earth orbit by the U.S. between 1964 and 1967, following the one-person Mercury program and before the three-person Apollo program. Designed to test astronauts' ability to maneuver spacecraft manually, the Gemini series helped develop techniques for orbital rendezvous and docking, procedures that were required later in the Apollo Moon-landing missions. It also gave NASA engineers a chance to improve spacecraft environmental control and electrical power systems.
Gemini
Gemini [′jem·ə‚nē]
Gemini
a constellation of the zodiac. Its brightest stars, Pollux (β) and Castor (a), have a luminosity corresponding to 1.2 and 1.6, respectively, of the visual stellar magnitude. Visibility is best in December and January. Gemini can be seen throughout the USSR.
Gemini
the name of a series of American two-man spacecraft designed for earth orbit flight as well as of the programs and of the flights themselves. The weights of the Gemini spacecraft varied from 3.2 to 3.8 tons. The spacecraft consisted of a sealed capsule (the reentry module) carrying the two astronauts and a detachable unsealed adapter section carrying the equipment and the retrofire engine. The capsule had a diameter of 2.25 m and a length of 5.7 m. The Gemini was equipped with apparatus and rocket engines for maneuvering to permit rendezvous with other flying spacecraft in orbit. The life-support system was designed to last 14 days, and the power supply for the onboard equipment was provided by fuel cells. The Gemini could land only on water.
The first space flight in the Gemini series was made by Gemini 3 on Mar. 23, 1965, with the astronauts V. Grissom and J. Young on board. Gemini 4 was launched on June 3, 1965, with the astronauts J. McDivitt and E. White II. During the flight White completed a 20-minute walk in space. This was 2Vi months after A. A. Leonov’s first space walk in history. Gemini 5 was launched on Aug. 21, 1965, with the astronauts L. G. Cooper and C. Conrad, Jr. and stayed in orbit for 191 hours. Gemini 7 was launched on Dec. 4, 1965, with the astronauts F. Borman and J. Lovell, Jr. and stayed in orbit for 330 hours and 35 minutes. During this flight the craft rendezvoused with the spacecraft Gemini 6, manned by W. Schirra, Jr. and T. Stafford, which was launched on Dec. 15, 1965. Gemini 8, manned by the astronauts N. Armstrong and D. Scott, was launched on Mar. 16, 1966. After docking with an Agena target vehicle that had been placed in orbit, Gemini 8 lost control and made an emergency landing during the seventh revolution. Gemini 9, manned by the astronauts T. Stafford and E. Cernan, was launched on June 3, 1966. It rendezvoused in orbit with an artificial earth satellite, an augmented target docking adapter (ATDA). The astronaut Cernan completed a two hour and five minute space walk. Gemini 10, manned by J. Young and M. Collins, was launched on July 18, 1966. The maximum altitude of Gemini 11, manned by the astronauts C. Conrad, Jr., and R. Gordon, Jr., and launched on Sept. 12, 1966, was 1,370 km. Gemini 12, manned by the astronauts J. Lovell and E. Aldrin Jr., was launched on Nov. 11, 1966. On the last three flights the spacecraft docked with Agena target vehicles, and the astronauts M. Collins, R. Gordon, Jr., and E. Aldrin, Jr., walked in space.
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