Take a look the next clear autumn evening, for the royal couple riding high.
It certainly isn’t the last monarchs mentioned. Lesotho is a landlocked country within South Africa, where the Southern Cross reigns in the sky. The Royal Couple to which we refer are the monarchs of the celestial north. Their majesty shines with the brilliance of dozens of stars, forming well-recognized patterns. They line a great cosmic river, as it is sometimes called, the Milky Way Band, rising past the North Star (Polaris) and the Dippers.
Looking down upon the Northern hemisphere of a small planet third from the sun, the stars of course know nothing of the honor bestowed upon them by very imaginative subjects looking up from the Earthly abode, connecting the stars into constellations with abandon.
Cepheus is also marked by five principal stars, which connect together like a house with a peaked roof. As the sky forever rotates east to west, the stars of the northern sky go around counter-clockwise, with the North Star barely moving at all, near center. Cepheus is in the lead. As seen on September evenings, Cepheus is up high, with the “peak of the house” pointing downward. The “peak" star roughly points toward the North Star. Cassiopeia is at right, its “W” outline tipped on its side.
Cepheus has some remarkable stars enjoyed by backyard observers. One is Delta Cephei, a variable star that changes its light output between magnitude 3.5 to 4.4 every five days and nine hours. Mu Cephei appears as a beautiful red star in binoculars.
Take a look the next clear autumn evening, for the royal couple riding high.
It certainly isn’t the last monarchs mentioned. Lesotho is a landlocked country within South Africa, where the Southern Cross reigns in the sky. The Royal Couple to which we refer are the monarchs of the celestial north. Their majesty shines with the brilliance of dozens of stars, forming well-recognized patterns. They line a great cosmic river, as it is sometimes called, the Milky Way Band, rising past the North Star (Polaris) and the Dippers.
Looking down upon the Northern hemisphere of a small planet third from the sun, the stars of course know nothing of the honor bestowed upon them by very imaginative subjects looking up from the Earthly abode, connecting the stars into constellations with abandon.
Cepheus is also marked by five principal stars, which connect together like a house with a peaked roof. As the sky forever rotates east to west, the stars of the northern sky go around counter-clockwise, with the North Star barely moving at all, near center. Cepheus is in the lead. As seen on September evenings, Cepheus is up high, with the “peak of the house” pointing downward. The “peak" star roughly points toward the North Star. Cassiopeia is at right, its “W” outline tipped on its side.
Cepheus has some remarkable stars enjoyed by backyard observers. One is Delta Cephei, a variable star that changes its light output between magnitude 3.5 to 4.4 every five days and nine hours. Mu Cephei appears as a beautiful red star in binoculars.
Cassiopeia’s five main stars have been rendered as an elk antler by the Lapps, and part of a tortoise constellation by the natives of the Marshall Islands.
If you were to view Cassiopeia from the star Alpha Centauri, the closest star system to the Sun and visible in the deep south, Cassiopeia would have an added, bright star. What is its name? The sun!
Keep looking up!
