Download Andromeda: Daughter of Cassiopeia Ἀνδρομέδη Kaitlyn Heaton

Andromeda: Daughter of Cassiopeia
Ἀνδρομέδη
Kaitlyn Heaton
Physics 1040-011 TR 11:30am
Constellation Paper
Mythology
In Greek mythology, Andromeda was the princess of Ethiopia, daughter
of Cepheus and Cassiopeia. Cassiopeia was a boastful woman, and foolishly bragged that she
was more beautiful than Hera, the queen of the gods, and the Nereids. [4]
The Nereids felt insulted by this and complained to the sea god
Poseidon. Poseidon threatened to send a flood and a sea monster to destroy the kingdom of
Ethiopia. The king was advised by the oracle to sacrifice his daughter. Andromeda was chained
to a sea-cliff to be devoured by the sea monster. [1]
When Perseus saw the princess, her arms chained to the hard rock, he would have taken
her for a marble statue, had not the light breeze stirred her hair, and warm tears streamed
from her eyes. Without realizing it, he fell in love. Amazed at the sight of such rare
beauty, he stood still in wonder, and almost forgot to keep his wings moving in the air.
As he came to a halt, he called out: "You should not be wearing such chains as these--the
proper bonds for you are those which bind the hearts of fond lovers! Tell me your name, I
pray, and the name of your country, and why you are in chains."
At first she was silent; for, being a girl, she did not dare to speak to a man. She would
have concealed her face modestly behind her hands, had they not been bound fast. What
she could do, she did, filling her eyes with starting tears. When Perseus persisted,
questioning her again and again, she became afraid lest her unwillingness to talk might
seem due to guilt; so she told him the name of her country, and her own name, and she
also told him how her mother, a beautiful woman, had been too confident in her beauty.
Before she had finished, the waters roared and from the ocean wastes there came a
menacing monster, its breast covering the waves far and wide. The girl screamed. Her
sorrowing father was close at hand, and her mother too. They were both in deep distress,
though the mother had more cause to be so (Metamorphoses IV 674-692). [5]
He promised to rescue Andromeda if her parents would allow him to marry her.
Cassiopeia and Cepheus accepted. Perseus killed the monster and freed Andromeda.
Andromeda insisted that their wedding be celebrated. Unfortunately, her parents had
forgotten their promise to Perseus. After the marriage, Andromeda left her country to live with
Perseus who later became the king of Tiryns and Mycenae. The goddess Athena placed the
image of Andromeda among the stars as a reward for keeping her parents' promise. [1]
The Constellation and Stars
The constellation is located in the northern hemisphere sky. Andromeda lies close to the
North Pole, so only a few in the Southern Hemisphere can see this strangely shaped constellation
in the spring. It is denoted in astronomical charts, with the short form of 'And'. It is normally
visible in fall and winter and is best viewed in the November sky, when it is seen high, in the
evening sky. The shape of the constellation can be visualized as an inverted 'A' or ‘V’ which is a
little distorted and turned anticlockwise.
This constellation is a part of the Perseus family of constellations and lies in the NQ1
quadrant of the sky. Andromeda constellation can be easily located by the adjoining W-shaped
Cassiopeia constellation above and square-shaped Pegasus constellation adjoining it. Andromeda
is right next to Pegasus, which leads some to believe that at one time, some of these stars used to
be part of the winged horse. The image shows Andromeda upside-down, which is often her
position in the sky. The Princess' head is the star Alpheratz, which is also the last star in Pegasus.
It is located in the first quadrant of the northern hemisphere (NQ1). Its coordinates are
R.A. 1h / Dec +40°. It can be seen throughout the range of latitudes extending from +90° to -40°.
When one refers to this constellation, in astronomical terms, it means a region of the sky that
engulfs that constellation. This area is measured in square degrees and Andromeda covers about
722. Andromeda contains three Messier objects – M31 (Andromeda Galaxy), M32 and M110 –
and has seven stars with known planets. [2, 3, 8]
Table #1[6]
vis.
Name
RA
Dec
Dist.(ly)
Sp. class
mag.
S And
00h 42m 43.11s
+41° 16′ 04.2″
2600000
Ia
Z And
23h 33m 39.95s
+48° 49′ 05.9″ 10.53
1393
M2III + B1eq
HAT-P-6
23h 39m 05.81s
+42° 27′ 57.5″ 10.54
650
F
HAT-P-16
00h 38m 17.56s
+42° 27′ 47.2″ 10.8
766
F8
HAT-P-32
02h 01m 10s
+46° 41′ 16″
11.29
1044
F/G
WASP-1
00h 20m 40.08s
+31° 59′ 23.8″ 11.79
1239
F7V
Kepler-63
01h 17m 07.6s
+49° 32′ 54″
652
12.02
vis.
Name
RA
Dec
Dist.(ly)
Sp. class
mag.
Ross 248
23h 41m 54.99s
+44° 10′ 40.8″ 12.29
10.32
M6e
HAT-P-19
00h 38m 04s
+34° 42′ 42″
12.9
701
K
HAT-P-28
00h 52m 00s
+34° 43′ 42″
13.03
1288
G3
α And
00h 08m 23.17s
+29° 05′ 27.0″ 2.07
97
B9p
β And
01h 09m 43.80s
+35° 37′ 15.0″ 2.07
199
M0IIIvar
γ1 And
02h 03m 53.92s
+42° 19′ 47.5″ 2.10
355
K3IIb
δ And
00h 39m 19.60s
+30° 51′ 40.4″ 3.27
101
K3III...
3.44[4]
Andromeda
h
m
s
00 42 44.31
Galaxy
+41° 16′ 09.4″
2540000
(nebulous)
51 And
01h 37m 59.50s
+48° 37′ 42.6″ 3.59
174
K3III
ο And
23h 01m 55.25s
+42° 19′ 33.5″ 3.62
692
B6pv SB
λ And
23h 37m 33.71s
+46° 27′ 33.0″ 3.81
84
G8III-IV
μ And
00h 56m 45.10s
+38° 29′ 57.3″ 3.86
136
A5V
ζ And
00h 47m 20.39s
+24° 16′ 02.6″ 4.08
181
K1II
Objects of Interest
To find the Andromeda Constellation, you must be able to find Pegasus first. That's
because Andromeda's face is actually Pegasus's bellybutton (assuming horses have a
bellybutton). Andromeda looks like a curvy triangle hanging off the corner of the Great Square
(which forms Pegasus's body). This is shown in figure#1 [7]
There is plenty to see in this fall constellation. Messier 31 (NGC 224) is better known as
The Andromeda Galaxy. (Shown in figure 2) is the most distant object visible to the naked eye.
You can find this famous galaxy on the right side of Andromeda, about half-way up
the constellation. [2] It is a spiral galaxy approximately 2.5 million light years distant. In the
past, it was also referred to as the Great Andromeda Nebula. The galaxy contains a trillion stars.
This is significantly more than the Milky Way Galaxy, which has approximately 200-400 billion
stars. [7] There are also many other galaxies and some open clusters around this constellation,
but many are too faint to see.
Andromeda is the 19th biggest star constellation in the night sky, occupying an area of
722 square degrees. The brightest star in the constellation is Alpheratz. With a luminosity 200
times that of the Sun, Alpheratz is the brightest mercury-manganese star known. The
Andromeda’s meteor shower (also known as the Bielids) in mid-November appears to originate
from this constellation. They originate when Earth passes through the dust, left over by the
comet Biela, which broke up in 1852. [7]
Figure#1 [7]
Figure#2 [2]
Bibliography
1) http://www.windows2universe.org/mythology/andromeda.html
2) http://www.windows2universe.org/the_universe/Constellations/andromeda.html
3) http://www.constellation-guide.com/constellation-list/andromeda-constellation/
4) http://www.comfychair.org/~cmbell/myth/andromeda.html
5) Melville, A. D. trans. “Ovid, Metamorphoses” Oxford University Press, 1986.
6) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_stars_in_Andromeda
7) http://utahvalleyfamilyadventures.blogspot.com/2012/10/find-andromeda-constellation.html
8) http://www.buzzle.com/articles/andromeda-constellation.html