Cepheus
Cepheus lies in the far northern sky. The north celestial pole lies in the neighboring constellation Ursa Minor, but the northern-most tip of Cepheus is a mere 1.5° away from the pole. Cepheus was one of the 48 constellations listed by the second century astronomer Ptolemy
The precession of the equinoxes is shifting the pole ever-closer to the boundary between the two constellations, and by 7500 AD, Cepheus’s brightest star Alderamin will have become the pole star.
Two other stars in Cepheus are of particular note. The fourth-magnitude star δ-Cep is the prototype for the Cepheid class of variable stars. It variability was discovered in 1784 by the deaf–mute astronomer John Goodricke.
Cepheus is also home to a number of other notable variable stars, including μ-Cep, sometimes known as Herschel’s Garnet Star, which varies between magnitudes 3.5 and 5.1
In classical mythology, Cephus, the legendary king of Ethiopia, was placed in the night sky just ahead of his wife, Casseopia, as they rotate around the North Star, Polaris. He must have been a weak king allowing his wife to continually boast of her beauty and in the end be willing to let Casseopia sacrifice their own daughter, Andromeda, to Cetus the sea monster. Since he did not stop Casseopia from her continual boasting of her beauty, Cephus was placed next to her in the sky where he must listen for all time to her boasting. His constellation was given faint stars which are somewhat difficult to see. Another story relates that Cephus was one of the Argonauts, the valiant band of heroes that sailed the ship Argo in quest of the Golden Fleece. According to this legend, Cephus was changed into a constellation at his death.
In the Indian System, Cepheus is called ಯುಧಿಷ್ಠಿರ (Yudhishthira), the eldest of the Pandavas from Mahabharata.
Cepheus contains:
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Stars
- Alderamin (mag 2.5)
- Errai (mag 3.2)
- Alfirk (mag 3.2)
- ζ-Cep (mag 3.3)
- η-Cep (mag 3.4)
- ι-Cep (mag 3.5)
- μ-Cep (mag 4.0)
- δ-Cep (mag 4.1)
- ε-Cep (mag 4.2)
- θ-Cep (mag 4.2)
- 2-UMi (mag 4.2)
- ν-Cep (mag 4.3)
- κ-Cep (mag 4.4)
- HD (mag 4.4)
- υ¹-Cep (mag 4.5)
- π-Cep (mag 4.5)
- 11-Cep (mag 4.5)
- HD 217382 (mag 4.7)
- HD 216446 (mag 4.8)
- V337 Cep (mag 4.8)
- 24-Cep (mag 4.8)
- O-Cep (mag 4.9)
- HD 223274 (mag 5.0)
- 16-Cep (mag 5.0)
- OV Cep (mag 5.1)
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Open Clusters
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Globular ClustersNone
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Galaxy
View Cepheus in 3D 
Source: Wikipedia, in-the-sky.org
Image Courtesy: Sky&Telescope & IAU, Illustration Images linked from Urania's Mirror on Wikmedia Commons by Sidney Hall
Image Courtesy: Sky&Telescope & IAU, Illustration Images linked from Urania's Mirror on Wikmedia Commons by Sidney Hall