January 28
The Surviving Twin
Sun Position
The Sun lies in Aquarius, about 18.6° south of the celestial equator. In the Northern Hemisphere the days are still short but lengthening; in the Southern Hemisphere this is high summer with long, warm evenings.
Sky Highlight
Pollux, the brighter Gemini twin and an orange giant with a known planet, stands high on the evening meridian beside Castor. Visible worldwide.
Deep Sky Object
Messier 44, the Beehive Cluster, about 580 light-years away in Cancer, a naked-eye smudge rising in the east. Both hemispheres.
Featured Star
Pollux (β Gem), a red giant in Gemini, 33.8 light-years away. Pollux, the immortal twin, orbited by a planet no ancient astronomer imagined.
Around This Date
- January 28, 1611Johannes Hevelius, who would produce the most detailed lunar atlas of the 17th century and map the Moon's features with greater accuracy than any predecessor, was born in Danzig.
- January 28, 1986Space Shuttle Challenger disintegrated 73 seconds after launch, the O-ring failure that destroyed it a consequence of launching in temperatures too cold for the seals to function, the disaster that produced the Rogers Commission and changed how NASA managed safety.
Of the two twins, only one was given a world of his own.