Cassiopeia (constellation)
| Constellation | |
List of stars in Cassiopeia |
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| Abbreviation | Cas |
|---|---|
| Genitive | Cassiopeiae |
| Pronunciation | /ˌkæsi.ɵˈpiː.ə/ Cássiopéia, colloquially /ˌkæsiˈoʊpiː.ə/ Cássiópeia; genitive /ˌkæsi.ɵˈpiː.iː/ |
| Symbolism | the Seated Queen |
| Right ascension | 1 h |
| Declination | +60° |
| Quadrant | NQ1 |
| Area | 598 sq. deg. (25th) |
| Main stars | 5 |
| Bayer/Flamsteed stars |
53 |
| Stars with planets | 3 |
| Stars brighter than 3.00m | 4 |
| Stars within 10.00 pc (32.62 ly) | 7 |
| Brightest star | α Cas (Schedar) (2.15m) |
| Nearest star | η Cas (Achird) (19.42 ly, 5.95 pc) |
| Messier objects | 2 |
| Meteor showers | Perseids |
| Bordering constellations |
Camelopardalis Cepheus Lacerta Andromeda Perseus |
| Visible at latitudes between +90° and −20°. Best visible at 21:00 (9 p.m.) during the month of November. 
Photographed Oct. 1st, 2004 from near N41° W73° by Randal J.
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Cassiopeia is a constellation in the northern sky. It was one of the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd century Greek astronomer Ptolemy, and it remains one of the 88 modern constellations today. Cassiopeia is easily recognizable due to its distinctive 'W' shape formed by five bright stars. In the sky Cassiopeia sits with Andromeda on the South side, Perseus on the South East and Cepheus to the North. She is opposite The Big Dipper, and can be seen the clearest in early November. In Greek mythology it was considered to represent the vain queen Cassiopeia, who boasted about her unrivaled beauty.
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Notable features
Within Cassiopeia’s five major stars lies Cassiopeia A; commonly referred to as Cas A. Cassiopeia A is approximately 300 years old and has the distinction of being the strongest radio source observable outside our solar system. It was perhaps observed as a faint star in 1680 by John Flamsteed. It was the first image brought back by the Chandra X-Ray Observatory in the late 1990s. Similar to Cas A there are other stars and supernova remnants referred to as Cassiopeia B, T etc, and may be located in the larger constellation, though they too are only small parts of the whole.
Cassiopeia contains two stars visible to the naked eye that rank among the most luminous in the galaxy: ρ Cas and V509 Cas, both of the extremely rare class of yellow hypergiants. The star η Cas is a nearby (19.4 ly) binary star comprising a yellow Sun-like dwarf and an orange dwarf star.
Messier objects
Two Messier objects, Messier 52 (NGC 7654) and Messier 103 (NGC 581) are located in Cassiopeia. Both are open clusters and being 7th apparent magnitude objects they are easy targets with binoculars.
Cassiopeia viewed from Alpha Centauri
If we were able to observe Earth's Sun from Alpha Centauri, the Sun would appear in Cassiopeia as a yellow-white 0.5 magnitude star. The famous \/\/ of Cassiopeia would become a zig-zag pattern with the Sun at the leftmost end, closest to ε Cas.
Mythology
Cassiopeia’s story originated in the mythology of ancient Greece. Cassiopeia was the queen and consort of King Cepheus in Ethiopia. Their daughter Andromeda was very beautiful. Cassiopeia herself was a great beauty and was vain of it; she proclaimed her beauty was greater than that of the Nereids', the daughters of the sea god Poseidon. To punish Cassiopeia, he sentenced Andromeda to be tied to a rock with a sea monster awaiting her.
Perseus, returning from having slaughtered the gorgon Medusa, encountered the body of Andromeda lashed to the rock. He spoke to Cassiopeia and her husband and struck a deal with them: he would be allowed to marry Andromeda if he could kill the great sea monster before it killed their virgin daughter (who had been betrothed to her uncle Phineus). Perseus defeated the monster, took Andromeda and returned to Ethiopia.[1] Cassiopeia and Cepheus fulfilled their end of the bargain and began to plan the wedding for Andromeda. After the nuptials began, Phineus entered the proceedings and demanded his right to marry Andromeda.
A battle ensued in which Cepheus and Cassiopeia sided with Phineus. Outnumbered, Perseus considered that he had no choice but to slay his challengers by using the head of the recently slaughtered Medusa. Following their death both Cepheus and Cassiopeia were placed among the stars by Poseidon. Cassiopeia was put upside down for half the year because of her vanity, with her husband beside her.[2]
Variant traditions
The story of Cassiopeia related above is the best known version, but there were variant traditions. According to one, Cassiopeia was a consort of the god Zeus.[3] In this account they had a son named Atymnios (not a daughter), with whom two men fell in love. There is no mention of a betrothed uncle, nor of a sea monster, nor of the head of Medusa. Cassiopeia was however hung upside down in a chair in the stars upon her death.[4]
Names and spellings in the myth also vary with the culture of the myth-tellers. The Greek god Poseidon is known as Neptune in Roman mythology. Cassiopeia, and Cassiopea are Latinized spellings, whereas the Greek name has been transliterated as Kassiopeia, Kassiopea, Cassiope, or Cassiepia.[5]
Also, the object in which Cassiopeia sits in varies with the culture. In Greek and Roman stories, she reposes upside down in a chair. In Arabic culture, Cassiopeia is seen as a camel, while others see a hand or moose antlers in the sky.[6]
In popular culture
The Cuban artist Silvio Rodríguez wrote a song to Cassiopeia just after almost dying in a car crash.
Also, the Korean group TVXQ's fanbase was named after this constellation because of the positioning of the letters TVfXQ (a variant of their group name) resembled that of the constellation.
The constellation features in the storyline of the 2001 film Serendipity.
The binary star that is the main star of the constellation, features as setting for at least a part of Charles Sheffield's 1985 Science Fiction novel, Between the Strokes of Night.
On Joanna Newsom's independent lable debut album The Milk-Eyed Mender, released on March 23, 2004 on by Drag City, the eighth song is titled Cassiopeia. It runs 3:20min.
In the Vinyl version of thier album Ursa Major, alternative rock group Third-Eye-Blind, mentions Cassiopeia in the song Bonfire.
Consumer electronics company Casio used Cassiopeia as the name for a line of Pocket PCs running Microsoft's Windows CE in the late 90s.
See also
- IC 10 – dwarf galaxy
- SN 1572 – Tycho's Star or Tycho's Supernova - B Cassiopeiae
References
- ↑ Apollodorus (1997). The Library of Greek Mythology. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 66–67.
see also; Ovid. Metamorphoses. New York: Oxford University Press. 1986.. Book IV, lines 611-803; Book V, lines 246 - ↑ Apollodorus (1997). The Library of Greek Mythology. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 67.
See also: Ptak, Robert (1998). Sky Stories Ancient and Modern. New York: Nova Science Publishers. pp. 89, 98, 104–105. - ↑ Apollodorus (1997). The Library of Greek Mythology. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 97.
- ↑ Ibid. p. 97.
- ↑ Servi, Katerina (1997). Greek Mythology: Gods and heros - the Trojan War - The Odyssey. Athens: Ghristiana G. Christopoulou. p. 111.
- ↑ Ptak, Robert (1998). Sky Stories Ancient and Modern. New York: Nova Science Publishers. p. 104.
- Krause O; Rieke GH; Birkmann SM; Le Floc'h E; Gordon KD; Egami E; Bieging J; Hughes JP, Young ET, Hinz JL, Quanz SP, Hines DC (2005). "Infrared echoes near the supernova remnant Cassiopeia A". Science 308 (5728): 1604–6. doi:10.1126/science.1112035. PMID 15947181.
- Ian Ridpath; Wil Tirion (2007). Stars and Planets Guide. London: Collins. ISBN 978-0007251209. . Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0691135564.
External links
- The Deep Photographic Guide to the Constellations: Cassiopeia
- The clickable Cassiopeia
- Star Tales – Cassiopeia
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