Prismtect › Constellations › Cassiopeia
the Queen
Five bright stars make a W (or an M, depending on the hour) across the Milky Way, on the opposite side of the North Star from the Big Dipper. When the Dipper is low, Cassiopeia is high.
Cassiopeia was a queen of Aethiopia who boasted that she was more beautiful than the sea nymphs. As punishment she was set in the sky on her throne, circling the pole, upside down for half of every night.
Her husband Cepheus, her daughter Andromeda and the hero Perseus who saved Andromeda all lie nearby, so one story fills a whole part of the autumn sky.
In the 10th century the Persian astronomer al-Sufi drew Cassiopeia as a crowned queen holding a staff topped with a crescent moon.
Chinese astronomers saw a chariot here.
In Hindu tradition, Cassiopeia is linked with Sharmishtha, a princess and daughter of King Vrishparva, and a friend of Devayani, who is matched with Andromeda.
The traditional Welsh name for Cassiopeia is Llys Dôn, "the Court of Dôn".
Reindeer herders of the far north saw antlers in the W.
In the Marshall Islands, Cassiopeia is the tail of a giant porpoise whose body is Andromeda and whose head is Aries.
In the 10th century the Persian astronomer al-Sufi drew Cassiopeia as a crowned queen holding a staff topped with a crescent moon. Some Arabic star atlases show a quite different picture here: a "Tinted Hand", said to be a woman's hand dyed red with henna, with the arm reaching into Perseus. Another Arabic figure was a camel. Its hump was Beta Cassiopeiae and its legs reached into Perseus and Andromeda.
Chinese astronomers saw a chariot here. Three stars formed a bridge for kings, and with two more they became Wang Liang, a great chariot. Gamma Cassiopeiae, the middle star of the W, was the charioteer's whip.
In Hindu tradition, Cassiopeia is linked with Sharmishtha, a princess and daughter of King Vrishparva, and a friend of Devayani, who is matched with Andromeda.
The traditional Welsh name for Cassiopeia is Llys Dôn, "the Court of Dôn". Her children are in the sky too: the Milky Way is Caer Gwydion, "the fortress of Gwydion", and Corona Borealis is Caer Arianrhod.
Reindeer herders of the far north saw antlers in the W. For the Sámi of northern Europe it is an elk's antler. The Chukchi of Siberia saw the five bright stars as five reindeer stags.
In the Marshall Islands, Cassiopeia is the tail of a giant porpoise whose body is Andromeda and whose head is Aries. Hawaiians named its three brightest stars Poloahilani, Polula and Mulehu. On Pukapuka in the Cook Islands, it was a constellation of its own, Na Taki-tolu-a-Mataliki.
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