The Waxing Gibbous Moon appears near the star Pollux high in the southwestern sky after sunset on Wednesday March 29, 2023.
The conjunction will be visible until about 2:30 AM (Eastern) on March 30th, when the Moon sets in the eastern U.S.; the closest approach of the pair occurs at 4:23 AM (Eastern) on March 30th, and will be visible in the western U.S. and Pacific Ocean.
Image from Stellarium shows the sky at 10:00 PM (Eastern) from Clinton Township, Michigan. (Note: Moon is scaled 4X)
More on Pollux
Pollux is the brightest star in the constellation of Gemini. It has the Bayer designation β Geminorum, which is Latinised to Beta Geminorum and abbreviated Beta Gem or β Gem. This is an orange-hued, evolved giant star located at a distance of 34 light-years, making it the closest giant to the Sun. Since 1943, the spectrum of this star has served as one of the stable anchor points by which other stars are classified. In 2006 an extrasolar planet (designated Pollux b or β Geminorum b, later named Thestias) was confirmed to be orbiting it. – Wikipedia
More on Pollux b – Thestias
Pollux b is calculated to have a mass at least 2.3 times that of Jupiter. The planet is orbiting Pollux with a period of about 590 days. – Wikipedia
Note the distorted constellation of Orion to the left of Thestias in the image above.
How did Thestias get its name?
In July 2014 the International Astronomical Union launched NameExoWorlds, a process for giving proper names to certain exoplanets and their host stars. The process involved public nomination and voting for the new names. In December 2015, the IAU announced the winning name was Thestias for this planet. The winning name was based on that originally submitted by theSkyNet of Australia; namely Leda, Pollux’s mother in Greek and Roman mythology. At the request of the IAU, ‘Thestias’ (the patronym of Leda, a daughter of Thestius) was substituted. This was because ‘Leda’ was already attributed to an asteroid and to one of Jupiter’s satellites. – Wikipedia
Thestias’ entry on NASA’s Exoplanet Archive: https://exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu/overview/Thestias
