The Easy Guide to the Night Sky: Discovering the Constellations with Your Eyes and Binoculars (The Easy Astronomy Guides Book 1) by Richard J. Bartlett

Author:Richard J. Bartlett [Bartlett, Richard J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Albireo Books
Published: 2016-04-12T22:00:00+00:00

The Constellations of the Andromeda Legend

The five major players in the legend of Andromeda can be seen in the late autumn and early winter sky. Andromeda’s vain mother, Cassiopeia, appears to the north while her father, Cepheus, appears to the north-west.

Her hero, Perseus is to her east while his trusty steed, Pegasus, is just to the west. This image simulates the overhead view at 10pm in early November, 9pm in mid November, 8pm in early December and 7pm in mid December.

Cetus

Depending on who you ask, Cetus either represents a Whale (some associate it with the Whale that swallowed Job in the Bible) or the sea monster that nearly consumed poor Andromeda.

Either way, it’s a large but rather unimpressive constellation, 4th in size and found beneath another faint autumnal constellation, Pisces.

Its brightest star is Beta Ceti, also known as either Deneb Kaitos (derived from the Arabic for “the tail of the whale”) or Diphda, which is taken from the Arabic word for “frog.” Only 96 light years away, this magnitude 2.0 orange giant is otherwise quite unremarkable.

However, there is one star in the constellation that’s famous with astronomers across the globe. Omicron Ceti, also known as Mira (which very aptly means “the wonderful”) was one of the first variable stars to be discovered.

A red giant star hundreds of light years away, on average it shines at about magnitude 8 –beyond naked eye visibility but within reach of binoculars. However, every 11 months (332 days, to be precise) it brightens to naked eye visibility, usually to around magnitude 3, but sometimes as high as 2.0.

Upcoming dates of maximum brightness for are listed below. (Data calculated using Sky Tools 3 by Skyhound, http://www.skyhound.com)

March 26th, 2017

June 23rd, 2024

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