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ANDROMEDA

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Located in the northern celestial hemisphere, the constellation Andromeda is named after a greek mythological figure, Andromeda. She is the daughter of the Ethiopian queen, Cassiopeia, and according to the myth she was chained to a rock to be eaten by the sea monster Cetus. The constellation is best visible in the northern hemisphere during the autumn, along with other constellations of the Andromeda-myth, like Cassiopeia, Pegasus and Perseus. Andromeda is only visible north of 40° south latitude.

Alltough the constellation appeared in other star lores, it has its roots most firmly in the Greek tradition. In the Greco-roman myth Cassiopeia, the queen of Ethiopia bragged that her daughter was more beautiful, than the sea nymph Nereids, who were famous for their beauties. Offended by this, the sea god Posseidon sent the monster Cetus to attack Ethiopia. Andromeda's father, Cepheus was forced to sacrifice her daughter to save Ethiopia, and Andromeda was chained to a rock by the sea. But she was saved by Perseus, who arrived on his winged horse, Pegasus, and turned Cetus to stone with the head of Medusa.

Andromeda
Chart created with Stellarium 0.18.2

Most notable stars and deep-sky objects


Andromeda Galaxy (M31)eyebinocularcamera

The Andromeda Galaxy the closest major galaxy to the Milky Way, lying approx. 2.5 million light years from Earth. It was first thought to be a nebula, and was catalogised by Charles Messier in the 18th century, but it was later discovered to be a galaxy. It is bigger than the Milky Way with a diameter of 152.000 light years, consising of roughly 200 billion stars. It has two satellite galaxies, M32 and M110. It is also the farthest deep-sky object which we can see from under dark sky with the naked eye.

Gamma Andromedae binoculartelescope

The third brightest star in the constellation is actually a multiple star system, consisting of four stars, approximately 350 light years away from Earth. The brightest member of the star system is called Almach, and its companion star, Gamma Andromedae B was later discovered to be a triple star system.

NGC 752 binocular

This open cluster can be relatively easily found due to its bright stars near Gamma Andromedae. As it is large in size, it can be best observed with binoculars.


Legend:

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Visible with the naked eye
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Visible with binoculars
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Visible with telescope
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Popular target for astrophotography