Cepheus constellation lies in the northern hemisphere. It is one of the Greek constellations.
It was named after the mythical King Cepheus of Aethiopia, husband of Cassiopeia and father of Andromeda, both represented by neighboring constellations. Like most other constellations in the Perseus family, Cepheus was catalogued by the Greek astronomer Ptolemy in the 2nd century.
The constellation is home to Garnet Star, one of the largest known stars in the Milky Way, and to several well-known deep sky objects: the Wizard Nebula, the Iris Nebula, and the Fireworks Galaxy.
FACTS, LOCATION & MAP
Cepheus is the 27th largest constellation in the night sky, occupying an area of 588 square degrees. It is located in the fourth quadrant of the northern hemisphere (NQ4) and can be seen at latitudes between +90° and -10°. The neighboring constellations are Camelopardalis, Cassiopeia, Cygnus, Draco, Lacerta, and Ursa Minor.
Cepheus belongs to the Perseus family of constellations, along with Andromeda, Auriga, Cassiopeia, Cetus, Lacerta, Pegasus, Perseus, and Triangulum.
Cepheus has one star with known planets and contains no Messier objects. The brightest star in the constellation is Alderamin, Alpha Cephei. There are no meteor showers associated with Cepheus.
MYTH
The constellation represents Cepheus, the king of Ethiopia and Cassiopeia’s husband in Greek mythology. Zeus placed him in the sky after his tragic death because he was descended from one of Zeus’ loves, the nymph Io. Cepheus ruled not the modern-day Ethiopia, but the stretch of land between the southeastern Mediterranean and the Red Sea, the area that contains parts of the modern-day Egypt, Israel and Jordan.
Cepheus’ wife Cassiopeia was a very vain woman. Once, she boasted that she was more beautiful than the Nereids (sea nymphs, one of them the wife of the sea god Poseidon), which angered the nymphs and Poseidon, who then sent a sea monster, represented by the constellation Cetus, to ravage Cepheus’ land.
Cepheus turned to an oracle for advice on how to prevent utter disaster and the oracle told him that the only way to appease Poseidon was to sacrifice his daughter Andromeda to the monster.
Desperate, Cepheus and Cassiopeia did this, leaving their daughter chained to the rock for Cetus to find. Luckily, the hero Perseus found the princess first, rescued her and killed the monster. Later, he married Andromeda.
Perseus and Andromeda were celebrating their wedding when Phineus, Cepheus’ brother, turned up, claiming that she had been promised to him first. Phineus and his followers asked that Andromeda be turned over to them, but Cepheus refused them and there was a fight. Perseus tried to fight off all his opponents, but he was sorely outnumbered and had to use the head of Medusa to turn his enemies into stone. Unfortunately, the king and queen did not look away from the Gorgon’s head in time and were turned to stone, too.
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