Running head: Andromeda 1

Andromeda: The Chained Ethiopian Princess

Katrina Scanlan

Salt Lake Community College

Andromeda 2

Abstract

The Andromeda Constellation comes with a very intriguing Mythological story that to this day is

still not right on the internet and as well as the many stars that it contains, but with a little

research it can be found. Andromeda is a Constellation that is very well seen during the autumn

time along with the two other famous constellations, Perseus and Pegasus. There are many things

that can be found in the Andromeda constellation but to place it all onto one page will be

impossible, so it may take a more than one page and probably that is just the beginning. There

never really is a limit as to how much you can explain our galaxy.

Andromeda 3

MYTHOLOGY

In the land of Ethiopia there ruled a King named King Cepheus along with his Queen,

Queen Cassiopeia. The King and Queen had a daughter named Princess Andromeda. Princess

Andromeda was very beautiful that the Queen couldn’t help but brag about her, even to an extent

as where she started proclaiming that her daughter was more beautiful than the Nereids, the

nymphs of the sea. The Nereids became jealous and spiteful and decided to cry to their master

Neptune, lord of the seas. The great Neptune, who was only second in power and authority to his

brother Jupiter, sent a sea monster, Cetus, to bring vengeance upon the prideful Queen. Cetus

tore the shores of Ethiopia bringing death and destruction upon the people of Ethiopia. As the

King became desperate he decided to consult with an oracle. The oracle told the King that the

only way to stop Cetus was to deliver his beautiful daughter, Andromeda, to the monster to

devour (Hecker). That afternoon, the King and Queen took Andromeda out for what she thought

was a day at the beach and when they arrived to the sandy shore the King and Queen quickly

chained their daughter’s arms to a boulder, then ran off (Lynch, 2006, p. 29-103).

As the monster charged at Andromeda, Perseus was returning home after defeating the

evil Medusa and severing her head, when he heard Andromeda’s cries. Although most stories say

that Perseus was on his winged horse, but Perseus was wearing the winged shoes of Mercury.

Perseus pulled out Medusa’s head and when Cetus looked upon it, the monster turned to stone

and sank beneath the sea. The twisted part of this story though was as the blood was dripping

from Medusa’s head it hit the oceans and that was what magically produced the winged horse

Pegasus. Pegasus was the one that chewed off the chains that held the princess and released her

to her hero (Lynch, 2006, p. 29-103). Perseus fell in love with Andromeda and carried her off to

be his bride. Perseus and Andromeda had six children’s later on including Gorgophonte, who

Andromeda 4

fathered Tyndareus, the famous Spartan king, and Perseus became an ancestor for the Persians.

Athena was the one who placed Andromeda’s constellation among the stars honoring her, next to

her husband Perseus, the winged horse Pegasus, and her mother Cassiopeia (Hamilton, 1999, p.

151-154).

CONSTELLATIONS

The Andromeda constellation takes up an area of 722 square degrees and it contains four

stars with known planets. Andromeda can be seen at a latitude between +90° and -40°. It is best

visible at 9pm during the month of November. The constellation is home to the Andromeda

Galaxy. A large spiral galaxy which can be seen as a wide hazy patch on the right side of the

Andromeda constellation. The brightest star of the Andromeda constellation is Alpha

Andromedae. It was found in late Arabian astronomy as “Al Ras al Mar’ah al Musalsalah,” or

“The Head of the Woman in Chains.”

It was also known in two other names, Alpheratz or Sirrah. Both of these names came

from the Arabic name “surrat al-faras”, which meant “the navel of the horse”. The reason why it

was called “the navel of the horse” was because of there it was located. The location was

northeast of the Pegasus constellation, also known delta Pegasi. For a long time Alpheratz was

considered a part of the Pegasus constellation, but was later then determined that it belonged to

the Andromeda constellation instead. Other notable stars in the Andromeda constellation are

delta Andromedae, a triple star system. Upsilon Andromedae, planetary system with three

extrasolar planets. Iota Andromedae, a blue-white dwarf. Finally xi Andromedae or Adhill, “the

tail”, a binary star classified as an orange K-type giant. Andromeda falls into the Perseus family

of constellations along with Cassiopeia, Cepheus, Perseus, Pegasus, Cetus, Auriga, Lacerta and

Andromeda 5

Triangulum (Andromeda Constellation on Top Astronomer). Although with all of the tales in the

night sky, the Andromeda story contains most constellations. No less than six figures are up in

the sky to help Andromeda’s constellation (Hecker). Also all these constellations are best viewed

and seen during the autumn season (Lynch, 2006, p. 29-103).

PRIMARY STARS

Although the Andromeda Constellation contains so many stars there are nine that are

primarily named as the most noticeable stars in this constellation. First there is Alpheratz, as

mentioned earlier the name “Alpheratz” is Arabic for the “navel of the horse” because of its

attachment to the constellation Pegasus. This star helps complete the Andromeda constellation.

Alpheratz is a spectroscopic binary, two stars that are orbiting each other too closely over a

period of 96.7 days which makes it hard to differentiate them. Although the brightest star out of

the pair is a B8 blue subgiant. This stars magnitude is 2.06 and it is 97 light years away with a

surface temperature of 13,000 degrees Celsius and is about 200 times brighter than our Sun.

Alpheratz is the brightest mercury-manganese star know and is the northeastern star of the Great

Square of Pegasus (Hecker) ("Andromeda Constellation: Facts, Myth, Stars, Deep Sky Objects |

Constellation Guide," 2014).

The second brightest primary star of the Andromeda Constellation is Mirach, which also

known as Beta Andromedae. The name Mirach came from the Arabic word for “girdle” and that

is because it is referring to the stars placement at the left hip of Andromeda’s constellation.

Mirach has roughly the same apparent magnitude as Alpheratz and is classified as a suspected

semi-regular variable star. Mirach is a cool, bright red class M giant and is approximately 200

light years away. Mirach is 1,900 times brighter than our Sun and is 3-4 time more in its mass.

Mirach is also a part of an asterism called the girdle. Mirach is only seven arc-minutes away

Andromeda 6

from the galaxy NGC 404, a lenticular galaxy that is more than 10 million light years away,

which is sometimes call the Mirach’s ghost because it is hard to locate on a photograph (Wilkie

& Rosselli, 1998, p. 75-155)

The third brightest star is Almach. Almach is also another binary star and is also about

350 light years away. The brightest component of Almach is a golden yellow while its partner is

blue. The dimmer companion is a triple star system, which makes Almach a quadruple star

system. The name Almach originated from the Arabic “al-anaq- al-ard”, which stands for “the

desert lynx”. The fourth brighter star in the Andromeda constellation is Delta Andromedae. Delta

Andromedae is a double star and is approximately 101 light years away. The brighter component

is a K-type while the fainter component is either a G-type or a white dwarf. The fifth brightest

star is 51 Andromedae and even though Ptolemy made it a part of the Andromeda constellation,

Johann Bayer moved to the Perseus constellation but then was later decided by an English

astronomer named John Flamsteed to move it back to the Andromeda constellation. So this star

has been going back and forth between constellations for a while now, but for the time being it is

staying the Andromeda constellation ("Andromeda Constellation: Facts, Myth, Stars, Deep Sky

Objects | Constellation Guide," 2014).

The sixth brightest star is Upsilon Andromedae. Upsilon Andromedae is a binary star in

the Andromeda constellation and it is composed of a yellow-white dwarf and a fainted red dwarf.

The primary star in Upsilon Andromedae has four planets that are orbiting and are presumed to

be Jovian planets close to the size of Jupiter. They are about 3.1 billion years old and are more

massive and luminous. The second star in Upsilon Andromedae is a red dwarf that is both short

in mass and luminosity compared to the Sun. The seventh brightest star is Adhill. Adhill is

another double star and its name originated to the Arabic word “al-dhayl” which stands for either

Andromeda 7

“train” or “tail”. The eighth brightest star is Iota Andromedae. Iota Andromedae is a B-type main

sequence dwarf and is blue and white in color. Final the ninth brightest star is the Mu

Andromedae. Nothing too exciting about this star only that it is about 136 light years away and

apparently it is what help makes up the Andromeda constellation (Wilkie & Rosselli, 1998, p.

75-155).

OBJECTS OF INTEREST

There are three famous galaxies that are very well known in the Andromeda constellation.

The main galaxy is known as M31 and the reason why it is so great is because of its “closeness”

to us. In the past it was referred to as the Great Andromeda Nebula. This galaxy is two and a half

million light years away compared to the many other galaxies that are much farther away. The

only reason our telescopes can see them is because of their brightness and the billions of stars

they hold. The Andromeda galaxy is the only one we can see with the naked eye and it is

officially the most distant object that we can see with the naked eye. It is better to see if you have

a general idea of its location and it is getting easier every year because the Andromeda galaxy is

moving closer to us. The Andromeda galaxy is about 141,000 light years in diameter and it

contains roughly one trillion stars or more. Although the M31 (main galaxy) is the most well-

known galaxy out there, there are two other dwarf satellite galaxies that are mentioned as well,

M32 and M110 ("Andromeda Constellation: Facts, Myth, Stars, Deep Sky Objects |

Constellation Guide," 2014) (Hecker).

M32 is a dwarf elliptical galaxy that is approximately 2.65 million light years away and

was discovered in 1749 by a French astronomer named Guillaume Le Gentil. M32 was the first

elliptical galaxy to ever be discovered. Even though it is very small, it is very bright. M32 does

not contain any globular clusters and the galaxy is suspected to have been larger at one point but

Andromeda 8

then it lost a few of its stars and collided with M31. M32 mostly contains old stars win no star

formation going on inside the galaxy, but however it does contain a supermassive black hole in

the center. The massive black hole is to be approximately between 1.5 and 5 million solar masses

(Wilkie & Rosselli, 1998, p.75-155).

The last well know galaxy of the Andromeda constellation is M110. M110 is often

classified as a dwarf spheroidal galaxy and it contains eight globular clusters in its halo. M110

does show signs of recent star formation, so that means there was never any black hole activities

happening in the center of this galaxy. M110 is also about 2.9 million light years away. M110

was discovered by Caroline Herschel but wasn’t recorded until 1785 and wasn’t given a number

until 1967. One very significant thing was also discovered in the Andromeda constellation was

The Blue Snowball Nebula. This planetary nebula contained a magnitude of 8.6 and is a huge

bubble of gas that has be shed by a dying star in the center. The blue tint of the nebula was

caused by an abundance of ionized oxygen in the gas. The distance of this nebula is roughly

estimated to be between 2,000 and 6,000 light years away (Wilkie & Rosselli, 1998, p. 75-155).

Andromeda is also associated with the “Andromedids” shower. It is a meteor storm was

produced in 1872 and 1885 when comet Biella broke up into pieces. It hard to find this meteor

shower now a days because it has faded within time, but little activities still occur every year

mid-November but not to its full potential as it used to be in the late 18th centuries.

Andromeda 9

Table

Figure 1

Names/Symbols

RA Dec. Vis. Mag. Distance (ly) Spectral Class

α AndAlpheratz

0h 8m 23.3s +29° 5’ 26” 2.06 97 ly B8IVpMnHg

β AndMirach

1h 9m 43.9s +35° 37’ 14” 2.06 200 ly MO+IIIa

γ1AndAlmach

2h 3m 54s +42° 19’ 47” 2.26 350 ly K3-IIb

δ And 0h 39m 19.7s

+30° 51’ 39” 3.27 101 ly K3III

ο And 23h 1m 55.3s

+42° 19’34” 3.62 217 ly B6IIIpe+A2p

λ And 23h 37m 33.9s

+46° 27’ 29” 3.82 65.2 ly G8III-IV

μ And 0h 56m 45.2s

+38° 29’ 58” 3.87 136 ly A5V

ζ And 0h 47m 20.3s

+24° 16’ 2” 4.06 88.1 ly K1II8

υ And 1h 36m 47.8s

+41° 24’ 20” 4.09 44 ly F8V

κ And 23h 40m 24.5s

+44° 20’ 2” 4.14 181 ly B9IVn

φ And 1h 9m 30.2s +47° 14’ 31” 4.25 1090 ly B7Veι And 23h 38m

8.2s+43° 16’ 5” 4.29 503 ly B8V

π And 0h 36m 52.9s

+33° 43’ 10” 4.36 660 ly B5V

ε And 0h 38m 33.3s

+29° 18’ 42” 4.37 105 ly G6IIIFe-3CH1

η And 0h 57m 12.4s

+23° 25’ 3” 4.42 177 ly G8IIIb

σ And 0h 18m 19.7s

+36° 47’ 7” 4.52 142 ly A2V

ν And 0h 49m 48.8s

+41° 4’ 44” 4.53 B5V-F8V

θ And 0h 17m 5.5s +38° 40’ 54” 4.61 148 ly A2VAndSalm

23h 4m 11s +50° 3’ 8” 4.65 815 ly K0IIIbFe-0.5

ω And 1h 27m 39.4s

+45° 24’ 24” 4.83 109 ly F5IV

γ2 And 2h 3m 54.7s +42° 19’ 51” 4.84 251 ly B8V+A0Vξ And 1h 22m +45° 31’ 44” 4.88 196 ly K0-IIIb

Andromeda 10

Adhill 20.4sτ And 1h 40m

34.8s+40° 34’ 37” 4.94 B8III

ψ And 23h 46m 2.1s

+46° 25’ 13” 4.95 3260 ly G5Ib+A0V

χ And 1h 39m 21s +44° 23’ 10” 4.98 362 ly G8IIIρ And 0h 21m 7.3s +37° 58’ 7” 5.18 192 ly F5III

Andromeda 11

Reference

Andromeda Constellation: Facts, Myth, Stars, Deep Sky Objects | Constellation Guide.

(2014). Retrieved from

http://www.constellation-guide.com/constellation-list/andromeda-constellation/

Celestial Atlas: Andromeda, the Chained Princess. (n.d.). Retrieved from

http://cseligman.com/text/atlas/andromeda.htm

Constellations: Andromeda - Windows to the Universe. (n.d.). Retrieved from

http://www.windows2universe.org/the_universe/Constellations/andromeda.html

Hamilton, E. (1999). The Great Heroes before the Trojan War. In Mythology: Timeless

tales of gods and heroes (pp. 151-154). New York, NY: Warner Books.

Hecker, R. K. (n.d.). The constellation Andromeda, the princess. Retrieved from

http://mexicanskies.com/constellations/andromeda.htm

Lynch, M. (2006). A sky Full of Constellations. In Utah starwatch (pp. 29-103). St. Paul,

MN: Voyageur Press.

The stars of Andromeda. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.alcyone.de/SIT/bsc/and.html

Wilkie, T., & Rosselli, M. (1998). The Cradle of the Stars. In Visions of heaven: The

mysteries of the universe revealed by the Hubble Space Telescope (pp. 75-155).

London: Hodder & Stoughton.

Andromeda 12

Running head: Andromeda 13

Tables

Figure 1

Names/Symbols

RA Dec. Vis. Mag. Distance (ly) Spectral Class

α AndAlpheratz

0h 8m 23.3s +29° 5’ 26” 2.06 97 ly B8IVpMnHg

β AndMirach

1h 9m 43.9s +35° 37’ 14” 2.06 200 ly MO+IIIa

γ1AndAlmach

2h 3m 54s +42° 19’ 47” 2.26 350 ly K3-IIb

δ And 0h 39m 19.7s

+30° 51’ 39” 3.27 101 ly K3III

ο And 23h 1m 55.3s

+42° 19’34” 3.62 217 ly B6IIIpe+A2p

λ And 23h 37m 33.9s

+46° 27’ 29” 3.82 65.2 ly G8III-IV

μ And 0h 56m 45.2s

+38° 29’ 58” 3.87 136 ly A5V

ζ And 0h 47m 20.3s

+24° 16’ 2” 4.06 88.1 ly K1II8

υ And 1h 36m 47.8s

+41° 24’ 20” 4.09 44 ly F8V

κ And 23h 40m 24.5s

+44° 20’ 2” 4.14 181 ly B9IVn

φ And 1h 9m 30.2s +47° 14’ 31” 4.25 1090 ly B7Veι And 23h 38m

8.2s+43° 16’ 5” 4.29 503 ly B8V

π And 0h 36m 52.9s

+33° 43’ 10” 4.36 660 ly B5V

ε And 0h 38m 33.3s

+29° 18’ 42” 4.37 105 ly G6IIIFe-3CH1

η And 0h 57m 12.4s

+23° 25’ 3” 4.42 177 ly G8IIIb

σ And 0h 18m 19.7s

+36° 47’ 7” 4.52 142 ly A2V

ν And 0h 49m 48.8s

+41° 4’ 44” 4.53 B5V-F8V

θ And 0h 17m 5.5s +38° 40’ 54” 4.61 148 ly A2VAndSalm

23h 4m 11s +50° 3’ 8” 4.65 815 ly K0IIIbFe-0.5

ω And 1h 27m 39.4s

+45° 24’ 24” 4.83 109 ly F5IV

γ2 And 2h 3m 54.7s +42° 19’ 51” 4.84 251 ly B8V+A0Vξ And 1h 22m +45° 31’ 44” 4.88 196 ly K0-IIIb

Andromeda 14

Adhill 20.4sτ And 1h 40m

34.8s+40° 34’ 37” 4.94 B8III

ψ And 23h 46m 2.1s

+46° 25’ 13” 4.95 3260 ly G5Ib+A0V

χ And 1h 39m 21s +44° 23’ 10” 4.98 362 ly G8IIIρ And 0h 21m 7.3s +37° 58’ 7” 5.18 192 ly F5III

Andromeda 15

Andromeda 16

Tables

Figure 1

Names/Symbols

RA Dec. Vis. Mag. Distance (ly) Spectral Class

α AndAlpheratz

0h 8m 23.3s +29° 5’ 26” 2.06 97 ly B8IVpMnHg

β AndMirach

1h 9m 43.9s +35° 37’ 14” 2.06 200 ly MO+IIIa

γ1AndAlmach

2h 3m 54s +42° 19’ 47” 2.26 350 ly K3-IIb

δ And 0h 39m 19.7s

+30° 51’ 39” 3.27 101 ly K3III

ο And 23h 1m 55.3s

+42° 19’34” 3.62 217 ly B6IIIpe+A2p

λ And 23h 37m 33.9s

+46° 27’ 29” 3.82 65.2 ly G8III-IV

μ And 0h 56m 45.2s

+38° 29’ 58” 3.87 136 ly A5V

ζ And 0h 47m 20.3s

+24° 16’ 2” 4.06 88.1 ly K1II8

υ And 1h 36m 47.8s

+41° 24’ 20” 4.09 44 ly F8V

κ And 23h 40m 24.5s

+44° 20’ 2” 4.14 181 ly B9IVn

φ And 1h 9m 30.2s +47° 14’ 31” 4.25 1090 ly B7Veι And 23h 38m

8.2s+43° 16’ 5” 4.29 503 ly B8V

π And 0h 36m 52.9s

+33° 43’ 10” 4.36 660 ly B5V

ε And 0h 38m 33.3s

+29° 18’ 42” 4.37 105 ly G6IIIFe-3CH1

η And 0h 57m 12.4s

+23° 25’ 3” 4.42 177 ly G8IIIb

σ And 0h 18m 19.7s

+36° 47’ 7” 4.52 142 ly A2V

ν And 0h 49m 48.8s

+41° 4’ 44” 4.53 B5V-F8V

θ And 0h 17m 5.5s +38° 40’ 54” 4.61 148 ly A2VAndSalm

23h 4m 11s +50° 3’ 8” 4.65 815 ly K0IIIbFe-0.5

ω And 1h 27m 39.4s

+45° 24’ 24” 4.83 109 ly F5IV

γ2 And 2h 3m 54.7s +42° 19’ 51” 4.84 251 ly B8V+A0Vξ And 1h 22m +45° 31’ 44” 4.88 196 ly K0-IIIb

Andromeda 17

Adhill 20.4sτ And 1h 40m

34.8s+40° 34’ 37” 4.94 B8III

ψ And 23h 46m 2.1s

+46° 25’ 13” 4.95 3260 ly G5Ib+A0V

χ And 1h 39m 21s +44° 23’ 10” 4.98 362 ly G8IIIρ And 0h 21m 7.3s +37° 58’ 7” 5.18 192 ly F5III