Viewing Constellations In The Northern Sky

CASSIOPEIA
Cassiopeia, “the queen”, is easy to see with the naked eye. It is has the shape of a W. It’s sort of a slanted W. Try to find it, viewing the northeastern sky. Everybody knows where the Big Dipper is, which is slightly northwest. Cassiopeia is to the right of the Big Dipper, in the northeastern sky.

Cassiopeia is a conspicuous constellation that is found in the northeastern sky. I was quite delighted to discover Cassiopeia. It does require a little patience.

Now, after you have found Cassiopeia, try to visualize a row or string of stars descending below Cassiopeia. I noticed it very quickly. And after searching through a few charts, I perceived this to be the constellation Perseus.

PERSEUS
Perseus, “the hero”, is a man in the stars. What I personally observed was a string of stars descending towards the east. I noticed the two stars on the end, which is a foot of the man. This was obvious.

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PLEIADES
And at the end of the foot (Perseus), I noticed a magnificent cluster of stars. To be perfectly honest, I didn’t have a clue as to what these stars were. There appeared to six, or seven stars, it is difficult to see with the naked eye. These are the “Seven Sisters”. This happens to be the emblem for the Subaru car.

Pleiades is in the constellation Taurus. Pleiades is a prominent sight in the winter in the Northern Hemisphere, and in the summer in the Southern Hemisphere. Pleiades is very popular in many cultures.

Here is a marvelous sky chart that illustrates Cassiopeia, Perseus, and Pleiades. I found this to be very useful. Courtesy of Sky And Telescope.

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