There must be a reason why mankind has associated bears - particularly polar bears - with this star pattern. What is remarkable is that these stars comprised a bear to widely separated early peoples - not only to Old World ancients but New World Native American tribes as well. It makes sense that in our mid-October early evening night sky, that the celestial big bear is following his earthly cousins and also going into hibernation and seemingly is tucked away down along the northern horizon. ![]() There are other clusters of stars to be found within Cassiopeia a fascinating wealth of celestial treasures which indeed seem especially fitting for a Queen! "Holed up" near the horizon Together, their apparent size in the sky exceeds that of the full Moon, and in binoculars or a small telescope form one of the most impressive and spectacular objects in the entire sky. Estimates place these star clusters at distances of about 7,100 to 7,400 light years. (55,500 degrees C.), blazing out energy so fast that they cannot keep it up for more than 10 million years, changing to red as they age. The blue stars are extremely hot, on the order of 100,000 degrees F. When we take this into account, it turns out that the ten brightest stars of this Double Cluster are actually comparable to such brilliant luminaries as Betelgeuse and Rigel in Orion, for each cluster contains very massive blue stars and some of the brightest red stars known. Astronomers estimate that their apparent brightness is dimmed thanks to interstellar dust. The ancient astronomers Hipparchus and Ptolemy described them as a "cloudy spot." Galileo with his crude telescope first noticed they were really two clusters of stars. If you extend an imaginary line roughly 1.5 times the distance from the star Gamma to Delta Cass (also known as Ruchbah) and beyond, you'll come across a faint blur of light which binoculars will readily reveal as two concentrations of stars, called h Persei and Chi Persei: the Double Star Cluster of Perseus. One object that will immediately catch your attention actually belongs not to Cassiopeia, but to an adjacent pattern of stars that represents her future son-in-law, Perseus. (Image credit: pithecanthropus4152/Wikimedia Commons) Double your starry pleasure If you own a pair of binoculars, scan this region and you'll come across a number of eye-catching sights.Īn enhanced photograph of the constellation Cassiopeia. Unlike the region around Sagittarius (which marks the center of our galaxy), we are looking out toward the outer edges of our galaxy when we face Cassiopeia. local daylight time, you'll find her soaring high above Polaris and most resembling an "M."Ĭassiopeia lies almost completely within the Milky Way, embedded within some marvelous fields of stars. An additional fainter star can be added to the five main stars, so that the six together outlines Cassiopeia's Chair.Īt this time of the year as darkness falls, Cassiopeia is ascending the north-northeast sky she actually seems to resemble a sort of contorted number 3. Along with resembling a "W", these stars can also be looked upon as forming an irregular letter "M", depending on which way the figure is turned in its circling around the pole. Arab cultures pictured the zig-zag row of five bright twinklers as representing a kneeling camel. In Roman legend, Cassiopeia was chained to her throne, as a punishment for her boastfulness and placed in the heavens to sometimes hang upside-down. In Greek mythology, she was Queen of the ancient kingdom of Ethiopia - wife of King Cepheus and mother of the Princess Andromeda. All through the night and every night throughout the year she looks down upon us whenever the sky is clear. The striking W-shaped figure of Cassiopeia is on the other side of Polaris from the Big Dipper. Let's check both out, starting with the "Big W" in the sky. ![]() So, in our current early autumn sky, the Whirling Queen rides high, while the Dipper dips down low. In contrast, Cassiopeia soars some three-quarters up from the northern horizon to the point directly overhead (the zenith). So, for New Yorkers the Big Dipper is circumpolar.Īt this particular time of the year, the Dipper and its associated constellation of the Great Bear is at its nadir - that is, its lowest point in the sky during the late-evening hours (9 to 11 p.m.). But for New York City, located 80 miles (130 km) to the northeast, Alkaid appears to barely skim the horizon but never drops below it.
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