Constellations · Constellation · Andromedae · And
Constellation
Andromeda
The chained princess — and, beside her knee, the farthest thing most people will ever see with their own eyes.
- Genitive
- Andromedae
- Area
- 722 square degrees · 19th of 88
- Brightest star
- Alpheratz · magnitude 2.07
- Naked-eye stars
- 155 brighter than magnitude 6.5
- Highest at midnight
- mid September
Myth
Queen Cassiopeia boasted that her daughter outshone the sea nymphs, so Poseidon sent the monster Cetus. Andromeda was chained to a rock as its sacrifice, until Perseus flew by with Medusa’s head.
Look for
Hop two stars up from Mirach and look just beyond for a faint, elongated glow: the Andromeda Galaxy, a trillion suns whose light left before our species existed.
Did you know
Alpheratz, her head, is also the corner of the Great Square. Ptolemy counted it in both constellations; since 1930 it belongs to Andromeda alone.