dipper@utastro.UUCP (Debbie Byrd) (10/08/85)
The constellation Cassiopeia is supposed to represent a queen in a chair. More -- after this. October 8 The Woman of the Chair One constellation that's easy to find is Cassiopeia -- now high in the north each evening. Cassiopeia has been named the Celestial "W" or the Celestial "M" depending on your point of view. The constellation really looks like one of these letters. It's compact and bright and altogether easy to identify. The Romans called Cassiopeia "the Woman of the Chair." The Arabs called her "the Lady in the Chair." Our legend about her stems from Greek mythology, where Cassiopeia is a queen who makes the mistake of comparing her own beauty to that of the gods. As punishment, the gods chained Cassiopeia's daughter, Andromeda, to a rock by the sea -- where she lay waiting to be devoured by a sea monster. A long complicated story follows in which Andromeda is saved by Perseus -- and after which the whole company is transported to the sky as stars. But Cassiopeia didn't get off scot-free. Some of the gods thought that her reward was unjust -- and Cassiopeia was placed so that for half the night she is seen sitting upright on her throne -- while for the other half she is hanging upside down. For this reason, Cassiopeia is sometimes shown tied to her chair. Again, this constellation looks like the letter M or W. It's now high in the north each evening. It so happens that the winter Milky Way passes through the area around Cassiopeia -- so if you've got binoculars, it's worthwhile to use them to scan the region of the heavens surrounding the queen. Script by Deborah Byrd. (c) Copyright 1984, 1985 McDonald Observatory, University of Texas at Austin