Night Sky

Cassiopeia

Source: earthsky.org

An inkling of autumn has been in the air here recently and this means the constellation Cassiopeia, the Queen, is now rising to its highest point in the northeast sky during the early evening hours.

This “W”-shaped figure lies along the star-rich, northern Milky Way and can be found most easily by extending an imaginary line from any star of the handle of the Big Dipper through Polaris (the North Star).

Since Cassiopeia and the Big Dipper lie roughly on opposite sides of Polaris, as the constellations spin counterclockwise around Polaris, Cassiopeia rises upward, the Big Dipper drops, and vice-versa. Thus, Cassiopeia’s “W”-shape now seen in the evening will morph into a roughly “M”-shape soon before dawn.