Viewing The Beauty Of The
Andromeda Constellation

The Andromeda constellation contains the Andromeda galaxy, the most distant object visible with the naked eye. Under a dark sky it appears as a hazy patch in the north of the constellation.

M31 the Andromeda galaxy is a wide spiral galaxy. Use low magnification and a wide angle view to observe it.

Remember this though, Andromeda is about 2.5 million light years away. When we look at it we see it as it was 2.5 million years ago, not as it is now. It's a look into the past.

M32 and M110 are galaxies located nearby also.

Open star cluster NGC752 is visible without optics but becomes quite a bevy of stars with a telescope.

NGC891 can be seen as a spiral galaxy in a 4.5inch(112.5mm) telescope.

The Blue Snowball nebula(NGC7662),is a planetary nebula visible in small telescopes. At higher magnifications the blue disk becomes very easy to see.

Alpha Andromedae is a binary star.

Beta Andromedae is a red giant star. You can see the color with the naked eye.

Gamma Andromedae is a colorful binary star.

AN AUDIENCE WITH THE PRINCESS

Visible in this picture is Triangulum. The star Alpheratz is the princess' head and a part of the Pegasus constellation. 

Right Ascension: 1 hour

Declination: 40 degrees

Visible between latitudes +90 and -40 degrees

Best seen in November at 9:00 PM local time

Named Stars: Alpheratz(Alpha Andromedae) Mirach(Beta Andromedae) Almaak(Gamma1 Andromedae)

Adhil (Xi Andromedae)

VANITY OF A QUEEN

Andromeda was the beautiful daughter of Queen Cassiopeia and King Cepheus.

The boastful queen decided to tell the Nereids, known for their beauty, that Andromeda was more beautiful than they.

This of course angered the sea nymphs. They asked the God of the sea Poseidon to destroy the queen's land.

Poseidon sent the sea monster Cetus to destroy Cepheus' and Cassiopeia's kingdom.

The Oracle informed them that to sacrifice Andromeda was the only was to save the land from complete destruction. Andromeda was taken to the shore and chained to a rock to await the arrival of Cetus.

SAVED BY A HERO

Perseus returning from his slaying of the Medusa, seeing the beautiful princess fell immediately in love and decided to rescue her.

Swooping in on Pegasus, he used the Medusa head to turn Cetus to stone and save Andromeda.

Perseus and Andromeda then wed.

The Andromeda constellation is quite a large one.

Andromeda is surrounded by her family. Cassiopeia, Cepheus, and Perseus are all near-by.

Also nearby constellations include Pegasus Lacerta Pisces

Andromeda Constellation To Constellations

Celestial Solar System › CONSTELLATIONS › Andromeda