BellaOnline Forums Education Astronomy The Story of Perseus and Andromeda

The story of Perseus and Andromeda takes up nearly 10% of the sky, and includes 5 constellations. (Sometimes a 6th is included, but that's a mistake.)

One of the constellations is Cassiopeia, who is the queen of ancient Aethiopia and mother to Andromeda.

High in the sky, circling the north celestial pole are the distinctive stars of Cassiopeia, the boastful queen who nearly destroyed her kingdom. The Milky Way runs through the constellation and it's full of star clusters, galaxies and evidence of the life cycles of stars.

Cassiopeia the Queen

An ancient Greek tale of pride and passion is played out across the sky, and involves five constellations, including Cepheus the king. In the constellation Cepheus there are stars being born and stars at the end of their lives, some of which will die in a blaze of glory.

Cepheus the King

Perseus was a first-class hero: demi-god, monster-slayer, maiden-rescuer, founder of Mycenae. When he died the gods put him in the sky. His constellation contains beautiful nebulae, a demon and a singing black hole.

Perseus the Hero

Andromeda is in the northern sky eternally chained to her rock. She is one of five constellations described by Ptolemy in the second century that are part of an epic ancient myth. The constellation also contains a quadruple star, a blue snowball, exoplanets and a famous spiral galaxy.

Andromeda the Chained Princess

Hi Mona. I've not been around lately - no reminders coming my way from Bella. Has the site been changed? It seems to have a different look. Thank you for the articles.

Yes, Angie, major changes in the whole site, apparently to make it easier for cell phone users to access. For a little while the Forum reminders had returned, but have been removed again because they were being interpreted as spam and the whole site was in danger of being downgraded by the search engines.

I'll have to sign up for newsletters so that I get reminders to visit. It's easy to get busy and before you know it a week has passed and the site is all but forgotten.

Whale or monster? Benign plankton-eating creature? No, a terrifying colossus, a hybrid with gaping jaws and the powerful scaly coils of a sea serpent. This is the constellation Cetus. The monster fell to the hero Perseus, but the stars and deep sky objects are impressive.

Cetus the Sea Monster

If you've followed the story, are you ready for the quiz?

An epic tale unfolds across the sky. Woven together are its strands of seduction, hubris and divine punishment, deities and monsters, and a dashing hero to rescue a damsel in distress. Nearly thirty percent of the northern sky is dedicated to the story of Perseus and Andromeda.

Perseus and Andromeda – Quiz

One of the best known features of the constellation Andromeda is M31, the Andromeda Galaxy. This unusual image includes faint reddish clouds of glowing energized hydrogen gas between us and our neighbouring galaxy. They are in our own Galaxy and probably "part of the pervasive, dusty interstellar cirrus clouds scattered hundreds of light-years above our own galactic plane." It's a fascinating, but somewhat eerie effect. Usually, a photographer is going to want to keep these clouds out of a portrait of the beautiful M31, but here Daniel López has used a combination of filters to keep them in the picture.