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Andromeda was the daughter of Cepheus and Cassiopeia. Mother thought she and daughter were more beautiful than any of Poseidon's many nymphs, and she taunted the God of the Seas until he just couldn't take it any longer. Poseidon punished the vane mother by chaining her daughter naked to a rock, to be sacrificed to a dreadful sea monster.

Some writers identify this monster with Cetus, another constellation. But I can find no reference in the classical texts that directly name the monster as Cetus. (In fact the very name means "whale", hardly a dreadful sea monster.)

Perseus, fresh from slaying the Gorgon Medusa, was passing by. Attracted by Andromeda's beauty, and no doubt the generally heroic opportunities the situation offered, he agreed to rescue her. But only if he could marry Andromeda afterwards.

Cepheus and Cassiopeia were not anxious for their daughter to wed Perseus, but they had little choice, so agreed. Perseus skimmed over the water, thus confusing the monster, and then cut off the monster's head. The wedding followed soon afterwards.

At the wedding relatives distrupted the proceedings, probably at Cassiopeia's insistence. In the following melee both Cassiopeia and Cepheus lost their life. Poseidon put them both in the heavens (well, it was the least he could do...).

Much later Athene put Andromeda in the same region of the sky, between mother and father.

The asterism consists of the brightest star, Alpheratz (or Sirrah) denoting Andromeda's head, and the rest of the principal stars marking other parts of the young woman's body. But I like to think that the other stars in fact trace Andromeda's flowing hair, and I've drawn the constellation to reflect that idea.

The Bayer stars are not very bright, as the constellation generally ranges from third and fourth magnitude stars.

There are a number of fine binaries and several variables, and some very nice deep sky objects, including perhaps the most famous spiral galaxy of all.

Double stars:

Gamma¹ and gamma² Andromedae form a noted binary with colour contrast, gold and blue.

The binary is a multiple system. AB: 2.5, 5; PA 63, and separation 10".
BC (the primary of which is gamma ²) form a very close binary with an orbit of 61 years: 5.5, 6.3; currently the component is at PA 104 and separation 0.5"

Kappa Andromedae is a wide and rather faint binary: 4, 11; 194, 46.8".

Pi Andromedae is alse faint and wide: 4.4, 8.9; 173, 36".

Tau Andromedae: 5, 10; 329, 52.5".

Phi Andromedae has a 370 year orbit: 5, 6.5; 154, 0.5".

Omega Andromedae: 5, 12; 122, 1.9".

Variable stars:

Zeta Andromedae is an EB variable: 3.9-4.1 with period of 17.77 days.

Lambda Andromedae is an RS CVn type variable: 3.7-4.0, 54.2 day period.

Omicron Andromedae is a gamma Cas type variable, ranging from 3.6 to 3.8.

R Andromedae: a Mira type variable with a period of 409.33 days, ranging from 5.8 to 14.9. In 2000 the maximum should occur in April.

Deep Sky Objects:

One of Andromeda's greatest attractions is the spiral galaxy known as M 31. There are also several more deep sky objects worthy of attention.

M31 (NGC 224), "The Andromeda Galaxy", is the finest spiral galaxy in the heavens, and probably the most well known.

The galaxy lies at about a fifteen degree angle from being edge-on; it has a bright oval nucleus. Its distance is approximately 2.3 million light years. Dust lanes become visible in medium-sized telescopes.

M32 (NGC 221) is the brightest elliptical satellite of M31, although rather faint compared to the latter. This galaxy is located almost half a degree to the south of M31 and is best seen in large telescopes.

M110 (NGC 205) is another elliptical galaxy, and a larger companion to M31 but much dimmer. It lies about thirty-five arc-minutes NW of M31.

NGC 752 is an open cluster of perhaps a hundred rather scattered stars. It's about four and a half degrees south of gamma Andromedae, and two degrees west.

NGC 891 is rather faint, but quite a nice edge-on spiral with clearly distinguished dust-lane in large telescopes. It's four degrees due east of gamma Andromedae.

NGC 7662, sometimes called "Blue Snowball", this is a blue-green planetary nebula with a very faint central star which is apparently variable (estimated to range from 12 to 16 visual magnitude). The nebula is found about 2.5 WSW of iota And.

For a closer appreciation of Andromeda, visit the Binocular Section.

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Andromeda was the daughter of Cepheus and Cassiopeia. Mother thought she and daughter were more beautiful than any of Poseidon's many nymphs, and she taunted the God of the Seas until he just couldn't take it any longer. Poseidon punished the vane mother by chaining her daughter naked to a rock, to be sacrificed to a dreadful sea monster.

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Most ancient cultures saw pictures in the stars of the night sky. The earliest known efforts to catalogue the stars date to cuneiform texts and artifacts dating back roughly 6000 years. These remnants, found in the valley of the Euphrates River, suggest that the ancients observing the heavens saw the lion, the bull, and the scorpion in the stars. The constellations as we know them today are undoubtedly very different from those first few--our night sky is a compendium of images from a number of different societies, both ancient and modern. By far, though, we owe the greatest debt to the mythology of the ancient Greeks and Romans.

The earliest references to the mythological significance of the Greek constellations may be found in the works of Homer, which probably date to the 7th century B.C. In the Iliad, for instance, Homer describes the creation of Achilleus's shield by the craftsman god Hephaistos:

On it he made the earth, and sky, and sea, the weariless sun and the moon waxing full, and all the constellations that crown the heavens, Pleiades and Hyades, the mighty Orion and the Bear, which men also call by the name of Wain: she wheels round in the same place and watches for Orion, and is the only one not to bathe in Ocean (Iliad XVIII 486-490).
At the time of Homer, however, most of the constellations were not associated with any particular myth, hero, or god. They were instead known simply as the objects or animals which they represented--the Lyre, for instance, or the Ram. By the 5th century B.C., however, most of the constellations had come to be associated with myths, and the Catasterismi of Eratosthenes completed the mythologization of the stars. "At this stage, the fusion between astronomy and mythology is so complete that no further distinction is made between them"--the stars were no longer merely identified with certain gods or heroes, but actually were perceived as divine (Seznec, 37-40).
Despite the many mentions of the stars in Greek and early Roman texts, by far the most thorough star catalogue from ancient times belongs to the Roman Ptolemy of Alexandria, who grouped 1022 stars into 48 constellations during the 2nd century A.D. Although Ptolemy's Almagest does not include the constellations which may only be seen from the southern hemisphere, it forms the basis for the modern list of 88 constellations officially designated by the International Astronomical Union (Pasachoff, 134-135). The influence of both the Greek and Roman cultures may be plainly seen; the myths behind the constellations date back to ancient Greece, but we use their Latin names.
The Major Constellations: Andromeda | Aquarius | Aries |Cancer | Capricornus | Cassiopeia | Cepheus | Cetus | Corona Borealis | Cygnus | Draco | Eridanus | Gemini | Hercules | Hydra | Leo | Libra | Lyra | Orion | Perseus | Pisces | Sagittarius |Scorpius | Taurus | Ursa Major |Ursa Minor | Virgo
Mythology, of course, influenced the naming of many objects in the night sky, not just the constellations. The planets all bear names from Roman mythology which reflect their characteristics: Mercury, named for the speedy messenger god, revolves fastest around the sun; Venus, named for the goddess of love and beauty, shines most brightly; Mars, named for the god of war, appears blood-red; Jupiter, named for the single most important god, is the largest planet in our solar system. Even the names of the Galilean moons of Jupiter (the four largest, which may be seen with even a small telescope) are drawn from mythology. Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto were all desired--and taken by force--by Jupiter. It is ironic that the mythological characters mythological women the king of the gods so ardently pursued now revolve around him.
Works Cited and Consulted
Cathy Bell
cmbell (at) comfychair (dot) org
originally for the Princeton University course CLA 212.

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Ancient Greek and Roman myths about the stars and constellations.

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Many different constellations fill the evening sky in the northern hemisphere. Depending on your location and the season, different constellations can be seen. Northern circumpolar constellations can be seen all year long in the night sky of the northern hemisphere, and appear to circle about the Pole star. This image shows an illustration of Ursa Major, the Great Bear.

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Many different constellations fill the evening sky in the northern hemisphere. Depending on your location and the season, different constellations can be seen. Northern circumpolar constellations can be seen all year long in the night sky of the northern hemisphere, and appear to circle about the Pole star.

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Picture of actual constellation in the sky: