Stargazing

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Updated:Sunday Sep 7 2008,2:00 MST- Red Deer Airport

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This Week in the Sky

Queen of the Night

With fall season around the corner, new constellations begin to take centre stage in the night sky. One easiest to identify is a group of stars that form a large lopsided 'W' above the northeastern horizon. Cassiopeia, the Queen, is a striking zigzag pattern of five bright stars that lie near to the North Pole star, Polaris.

Greek legends say that the vain queen of Ethiopia, wife of King Cepheus, was condemned by the god Zeus to the heavens after boasting that her own beauty rivaled that of the god's own daughters. Cassiopeia now sits on her star-studded throne, eternally circling Polaris - never to set below the horizon.

While Cassiopeia's five brightest stars appear to shine with similar brightness, their distance from us differ tremendously. The second brightest of the group, Caph, located at the right-end of the 'W' only 54 light years away, while Gamma, the middle-star in the formation sits at more than 650 light years from Earth.

- Andrew Fazekas