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An immensely massive yellow star in the western parts of
Gemini. Its name means 'outstretched', an historical name
relating to a lion in Arabic star-lore, and not directly related to its modern home constellation
of Gemini.
If the vast yellow supergiant occupied the place of the
Sun our own Solar System, it would swallow
Mercury and probably Venus as well. Though its diameter
is dozens of times that of the Sun, its surface is actually rather cooler than that of the
Sun.
At least for a time, this supergiant is not alone in space. At a distance of about quarter of a
light year is a another star, an orange
dwarf comparable with our own Sun in terms of mass. This
orange star seems to be a great deal older than the
supergiant, so it is unlikely to have evolved within the Mebsuta system itself. Instead,
it seems to be an independent star travelling through the system at very close range - dangerously
close, in fact, because the supergiant is approaching the cataclysmic end of its short
life cycle.
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Mebsuta lies in the Milky Way as it passes through the heart
of Gemini. The star is so close to the plane of the
Ecliptic that its light is occasionally cut off from Earth by
the passage of the Moon.
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