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Cassiopeia



Cassiopeia is one of the most recognizable of the constellations, a distinctive ‘W’ shape in the far northern sky. It is highest in the sky at midnight in the months around September. Cassiopeia was one of the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd-century Greek astronomer Ptolemy

The plane of the Milky Way runs through the middle of the ‘W’ asterism, making it a particularly rich area of the sky to view through binoculars. It contains more than twenty open clusters exceeding tenth magnitude, and a similar number of fifth magnitude stars.

In classical mythology, Cassiopeia was queen of Ethiopia, wife of Cepheus and mother of Andromeda.

According to the Greeks, Queen Casseopia, was very beautiful. She boasted that she was the most beautiful woman in the kingdom. As time went by, she began to say that she was the most beautiful woman in the world. Eventually, herboasting proclaimed that her beauty even exceeded that of the gods. Poseidon, the brother of Zeus and the god of the sea, took great offense at this statement, for he created the most beautiful beings ever in the form of his sea nymphs. In his anger, he created a great sea monster, Cetus (also described as a great fish or whale), to ravage the seas, sinking ships, killing the sailors, and destroying towns and villages along the seacoast. This created great fear among the people of Casseopia’s country. In an effort to stop this tremendous destruction, the people when to Poseidon and asked what could be done to stop this monster. Poseidon replied that if Casseopia would admit that his sea nymphs were indeed more beautiful than she, he would stop the monster. But Casseopia refused. The people asked Poseidon if there were any other way to stop the destruction. He replied that if the beautiful Andromeda, Casseopia’s only daughter, were to be sacrificed to Cetus the destruction would stop. The people took Andromeda and chained her to a rock which projected out into the sea to be sacrificed to Cetus. However, she was saved by Perseus, and Cetus was turned to stone. Poseidon and his brother Zeus decreed that Casseopia be placed in the sky as a constellation, and as punishment for being so conceited about her looks, she would suffer the humiliating position of being upside down in the sky during the fall of the year when her constellation is best seen.

In the Indian constellation system, Cassiopeia is known as ಕುಂತಿ (Kunti), a character from the Mahabharata.

Cassiopeia contains:
  • Stars
    • γ-Cas (mag 2.2)
    • Schedar (mag 2.2)
    • Caph (mag 2.3)
    • Ruchbah (mag 2.7)
    • ε-Cas (mag 3.4)
    • η-Cas (mag 3.5)
    • ζ-Cas (mag 3.7)
    • 50-Cas (mag 4.0)
    • κ-Cas (mag 4.2)
    • θ-Cas (mag 4.3)
    • O-Cas (mag 4.5)
    • ρ-Cas (mag 4.5)
    • ι-Cas (mag 4.6)
    • υ²-Cas (mag 4.6)
    • A-Cas (mag 4.6)
    • χ-Cas (mag 4.7)
    • ψ-Cas (mag 4.7)
    • λ-Cas (mag 4.7)
    • ξ-Cas (mag 4.8)
    • HD 5015 (mag 4.8)
    • υ¹-Cas (mag 4.8)
    • HD 19275 (mag 4.8)
    • 1-Cas (mag 4.8)
    • τ-Cas (mag 4.9)
    • AR Cas (mag 4.9)
  • Open Clusters
  • Globular Clusters
    None
  • Galaxy

View Cassiopeia 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

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