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It's time to learn about one of the constellations
in the night
sky.
Do you recognize this constellation?
It's Cassiopeia!
Cassiopeia is a circumpolar constellation,
which means that due to
its position in the sky near Polaris, it is
always visible in the
skies of the Northern Hemisphere. Instead
of appearing to rise and
set as many other constellations do, Cassiopeia
merely seems to
spin in the sky around the North Star as the
seasons change.
In ancient Greek mythology, Cassiopeia was
a beautiful queen. She
had a daughter, named Andromeda, who was very
beautiful, too.
Cassiopeia was proud and arrogant. One day
she said that her
daughter was more beautiful than any of the
Nereids, or sea-
spirits. The Nereids were furious, and demanded
that Poseidon, the
god of the sea, punish Cassiopeia. Poseidon
sent floods and a sea
monster to destroy the kingdom, and Cassiopeia
was told that she
had to sacrifice her beautiful daughter, Andromeda,
to the monster
to save her people. Andromeda was rescued
by the hero Perseus and
the kingdom was saved, but Poseidon was still
angry with Queen
Cassiopeia. He took her and hung her in the
heavens, still sitting
on her throne, doomed to spin through the
stars for all eternity as
a punishment for her pride. When the constellation
is upside down,
Cassiopeia has to hold tightly to her throne
so that she does not
fall off!
The constellation of Cassiopeia is easy to
recognize as either a
slightly flattened 'M' or 'W', depending on
the time of year,
formed by five bright stars.
Because of its position in the Milky Way,
Cassiopeia is full of
interesting deep-sky objects that astronomers
can study with their
telescopes. Star clusters, supernova remnants,
and a double star
all make it worth it to take a closer look
at Cassiopeia.
I hope you enjoyed learning about Cassiopeia
today. The next time
you are out after dark on a clear night, look
up! And see if you
can find Cassiopeia, the constellation of
the seated Queen.
