Locate the Big Dipper, which is one of the most recognizable star formations in the northern sky. Trace a line between the two stars that form the front of the dipper's pot and extend that line north to Polaris, the pole star. Continue the line past Polaris for about two-thirds of the distance, and it will lead you to the W-shaped constellation Cassiopeia.
These two constellations appear to rotate around Polaris as the year progresses. Locate the third star forming the "W" shape in Cassiopeia, starting from the part of the constellation farthest from Polaris. Draw a line from that star to the second star in the "W" and continue that line for about three times the distance between the two stars to find Mirfak, the brightest star in Perseus. Locate the Pleiades, which is another easy-to-spot cluster, and imagine a line from that formation to Polaris.
Perseus is on this line, so you can use this relationship to verify that you found it. Get a star chart that displays the locations of the stars and constellations from your latitude at the proper time of year. It's best if you use a chart for the proper month, but one that displays the locations for the season is acceptable.
Share Flipboard Email. Anne Marie Helmenstine, Ph. Chemistry Expert. Helmenstine holds a Ph. She has taught science courses at the high school, college, and graduate levels. Facebook Facebook Twitter Twitter. Updated November 07, Featured Video. Sources Allen, R. Popular Astronomy: 30 pp.
Cite this Article Format. Helmenstine, Anne Marie, Ph. The Perseus Constellation. How to Find the Aquarius Constellation. Deciphering Star Charts for Skygazing. How to Spot the Scorpius Constellation. It is also the origin point for the annual Perseid meteor shower. Perseus was first cataloged in the second century by the Greek astronomer Ptolemy.
It is named after the legendary hero who rescued Andromeda from the sea monster, Cetus. His father was the god Zeus. Perseus was sent by King Polydectes to slay the evil gorgon sister Medusa, whose gaze could turn anyone who looked at her into stone. Perseus slew Medusa in her sleep and collected her head in a bag. On his way back home, he spotted the princess Andromeda chained to a rock.
She was to be sacrificed to the sea monster Cetus. Nova Persei , also known as GK Persei, was a bright nova that occurred in With a peak magnitude of 0. GK Persei subsequently faded to magnitude 12 or 13, but had occasional outbursts of 2 to 3 magnitudes.
In the last 30 years, the outbursts have become pretty regular and last about two months every three years or so, which makes GK Persei resemble not a typical nova, but a dwarf nova-type cataclysmic variable star. V Persei is a young star belonging to the spectral class K3V, located in the young open star cluster IC The star is occulted by an unknown body every 4. The Perseids are probably the best known of all meteor showers. They can be seen every summer, from mid-July to late August in the northern hemisphere.
The meteor shower peaks every year around August 13, when the rate of meteors can reach over 60 per hour, which usually happens in the hours just before the dawn. The Perseid meteor shower is associated with the Perseus constellation because its apparent point of origin, also called the radiant, is located in the constellation. The meteor shower has been observed for some years or so, with first reports coming from the Far East.
The shower is also known as the tears of St. Lawrence in some Catholic countries, as it coincides with the date of St. The Perseids are associated with the comet Swift-Tuttle, a periodic comet that has an orbital period of about years. The comet was first discovered by Lewis Smith and Horace Parnell Tuttle, two American astronomers who independently observed it in July The comet has a solid nucleus 26 kilometres across and is the parent body of the Perseid meteor shower.
It leaves a line of debris known as the Perseid cloud along its orbit. Most of the dust in the cloud is believed to be about a thousand years old. Messier 34 is an open cluster with a visual magnitude of 5. It is between and million years old. It contains about stars and is seven light years in radius.
In good conditions, it appears as a blurry patch slightly north of the line from Algol to Almach , Gamma Andromedae. The Little Dumbbell Nebula is a planetary nebula in Perseus. It has a visual magnitude of The first person to recognize it as a planetary nebula was the astronomer Heber Doust Curtis. The Little Dumbbell Nebula is 2. The nebula was originally assigned two catalogue numbers, NGC and NGC , because it was believed to consist of two different emission nebulae.
The Alpha Persei Cluster is an open star cluster in Perseus. It contains several blue stars, the brightest one of which is Mirfak, Alpha Persei, a white-yellow second magnitude giant. Other bright members of the cluster include Delta, Epsilon, and Psi Persei. The estimated age of the cluster is between 50 and 70 million years. The Alpha Persei Cluster is between and light years distant and has a visual magnitude of 1.
The Perseus molecular cloud is a giant molecular cloud, or stellar nursery, located about light years from the solar system. The Perseus Cluster is a cluster of galaxies located in Perseus constellation. It is home to thousands of galaxies and one of the most massive objects known in the universe.
It is about This idyllic scene, packed with glowing galaxies, has something truly remarkable at its core: an untouched relic of the ancient Universe. This relic can be seen in the large galaxy at the centre of the frame, a lenticular galaxy named NGC This galaxy is a member of the famous Perseus Cluster — one of the most massive objects in the known Universe, located some million light-years from Earth.
Its host is the elliptical galaxy NGC The galaxy is 2. It is classified as a Fanaroff and Riley class 1 radio galaxy, one with the brightest points in the radio emission located toward the centre.
They are 7, and 6, light years distant respectively and relatively close to each other in space. Their respective ages are estimated at 3. The Double Cluster has a combined apparent magnitude of 4. NGC lies to the west and has a visual magnitude of 5.
Each cluster contains more than supergiant stars. The hottest main sequence stars in the clusters belong to the spectral class B0. NGC is a reflection nebula in Perseus, located in the Perseus molecular cloud.
The nebula is approximately light years distant. The Chandra data reveal 95 young stars glowing in X-ray light, 41 of which had not been seen previously using Spitzer because they lacked infrared emission from a surrounding disk. NGC is a spiral galaxy.
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