What is the constellation Cassiopeia?
Cassiopeia is a constellation in the northern hemisphere, the five brightest stars of which have a characteristic double vee (W) shape that, depending on the time of year and latitude, can be seen upright, sideways or inverted. Cassiopeia is one of the 88 modern constellations established by the International Astronomical Union, and also one of the 48 Ptolemaic constellations.
Characteristics
Five stars give their characteristic shape in the constellation. As it is very close to the celestial north, it remains in the sky all night in most northern countries.
It is frequently used as a crude indicator of sidereal time; The brightest star in the W, β Cassiopeiae, called Caph, is very close to zero hour right ascension and therefore a line can be drawn through Polaris and β Cassiopeiae that is very close to the equinoctial point.
Cassiopeia (mythology)
Cassiopeia represented as a constellation linked to the chair. Hyginus, Poeticon Astronomicon. «US Naval Observatory Library»
According to Greek mythology, Cassiopeia (Cassiepeia or Cassiopeia, Κασσιέπεια or Κασσιόπεια), was the wife of Cepheus, king of Ethiopia (mythological Ethiopia does not correspond to the current country and was probably on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean), and mother of Andromeda. The ancient Greek name Κασσιόπη means «she of exalted words.»
Cassiopeia boasted that her beauty and that of her daughter Andromeda surpassed the beauty of the Nereids, the sea nymphs. Hearing this she raised the wrath of Poseidon, the god of the sea. Poseidon decided to punish Cassiopeia’s arrogance and avenge the Nereids through Cetus, a whale-like sea monster, which he sent against the coasts of Ethiopia. Cassiopeia and her husband went to consult the oracle of Libya and it said that Andromeda, Cassiopeia’s daughter, had to be sacrificed to calm the monster and the anger of Poseidon.
Thus Andromeda was chained to a rock on the coast so that the marine sample could devour her. Andromeda was freed by Perseus, who arrived in time with the help of her pegasus. Perseus and Andromeda were married, but Poseidon did not want Cassiopeia to remain unpunished and in order to torture her eternally he put Cassiopeia in the firmament tied to a chair in a position that is with her head down half the time while spinning around. the polar star
Currently the names of the other characters of the myth such as Andromeda, Cetus, Cepheus, etc. They are carried by constellations neighboring the celestial sphere. In iconographic representations Cassiopeia generally appears seated on a chair or throne, the shape of the constellation, but she is not always represented tied.