Finding it in the sky
When to look
Every night of the year, looking north. On fall evenings it is very high in the sky and looks like an M, while on spring evenings it is low on the horizon and looks like a W.
How to recognize it
Start from the North Star: Cassiopeia is on the opposite side from the Big Dipper. It is five bright stars set in a zigzag, and in the northern sky there is no other figure like it.
The main stars
- SchedarAlfa Cassiopeiae
- CaphBeta Cassiopeiae
- NaviGamma Cassiopeiae
- RuchbahDelta Cassiopeiae
- SeginEpsilon Cassiopeiae
To get an idea
Seen from Alpha Centauri, the star closest to us, the W of Cassiopeia would have one more point: our Sun.
Learning just two figures, the W and the dipper, is enough to never get lost on any night of the year.
Fun facts
These are not in the book: there was no room on paper.
Cassiopeia and Cepheus are the only two constellations dedicated to a husband and a wife.
The name of the star Schedar comes from Arabic and means the breast, because it marks the queen's chest.
Ruchbah, another star of the W, takes its name from the Arabic word for knee.
The middle star of the W changes brightness now and then, with no regular rhythm.
Cassiopeia is circumpolar: from middle northern latitudes it never sets below the horizon.
In the myth the queen was punished for her vanity and made to spin around the pole, upside down too.
Test yourself
The first question is the one printed under the QR code, with the answer the book did not give. The other four only exist here.
Question 1 of 5★ is the one from your book
What shape is Cassiopeia?
Question 2 of 5
Where is it compared with the Big Dipper?
Question 3 of 5
Why is Cassiopeia's background so full of stars?
Question 4 of 5
What would you see from Alpha Centauri?
Question 5 of 5
Who was Cassiopeia in the myth?
Riddles
I am five stars set in a zigzag and I change letters with the seasons: in fall I look like an M, in spring like a W. But the drawing is always the same; it is you who turn. Who am I?
I was a queen and I boasted of being more beautiful than the sea nymphs. As punishment I have been spinning around the pole for thousands of years, and half the time I am upside down. Who am I?
I always sit on the opposite side from the famous dipper, with the star that stays still between us. When it climbs I sink, and so one of us can always be seen. Who am I?
Try it yourself
Repeat the same observation three months later. The W will be in the same patch of sky, but turned: draw this one too and compare the two sheets.
Point binoculars at the background between the stars of the W. You will see not just one more star but dozens, because the Milky Way passes there.
The words
- Milky Way
- The pale band of very distant stars that crosses the sky.
- star cluster
- A group of stars born together that have stayed close to each other.
Sources: Wikidata (Q10413), Wikipedia (Cassiopea (costellazione)).