ANDROMEDA

Justin Kilby
PHYS 1040-003 Elementary Astronomy

Figure #1. Andromeda Constellation Map, by IAU and Sky&Telescope magazine [1]

Mythology
Andromeda was the daughter of Cepheus and Cassiopeia, the king and queen of
Aethiopia, what is modern-day Ethiopia. Andromedas mother caused problems for the kingdom
when she said that Andromeda was more beautiful than
the Nereides, who were female sea nymphs. This caused
Poseidon, God of the Sea who protected the Nereides, to
send a sea monster to the kingdom with the intention of
destroying it because of Cassiopeias hubris. An oracle
told the king and queen that sacrificing Andromeda to

Figure #2. Perseus and Andromeda. By

Rebens. [16]

the sea monster was the only way that they would save the kingdom, so they chained Andromeda
to a rock to wait for the monster, Cetus. [3]
While Andromeda was chained to a rock, the celebrated hero Perseus was flying home
from his successful slaying of the dreaded Medusa. Upon seeing Andromeda, he fell in love and
he stayed with her until the sea monster appeared. Perseus destroyed the creature, saving
Andromeda. After this feat he asked Andromedas parents for her hand in marriage, which they
accepted. During the wedding Phineus, Andromedas uncle, showed up with the intent of taking
Andromeda for himself because she was promised to him. Why there has to be so much incest in
Greek Myths Ill never know but I digress. Perseus proceeded to show the head of Medusa,
turning Phineus and his followers to stone. [3]
After the marriage, the Andromeda and Perseus traveled back to Seriphos, Perseus home
island. Some shenanigans had happened on the island while Perseus was away and he found that
Dena, his mother, and Dictys had fled their home and were hiding in a temple. This was because

the king, Polydectes, had fallen in love with Dena in true Greek myth fashion. Perseus, once
again used the head of the Gorgon turned Polydectes and his court into stone. [3, 5]
After leaving Seriphos, Perseus and Andromeda founded Mycenae. The two of them had
children. One of the children founded Persia. Another one was the grandfather of the hero
Hercules. Upon Andromedas death the gods placed her in the sky with her husband. Her mother
and father were also placed in the sky with her, though her mother was placed upside down to
humiliate her for her hubris. [3, 5]
Stars and location
The Andromeda Constellation usually has Andromeda depicted locked in the chains that
bound her to the rock in the myth. The constellation can be seen in the Northern Hemisphere and
lies on the Celestial Sphere at a Right Ascension of 23h to +3h and Declination of +20 to +50.
It covers an area of 722 square degrees. The Constellation is visible at 90N 37S and is best
viewed in the moths of October and November. [3, 11] The Andromeda constellation is bordered
by the Greek constellations: Perseus (her husband), Cassiopeia (her mother), Pegasus,
Triangulum, and Pisces. Andromedas father, Cepheus, and the sea monster she was being
sacrificed to, Cetus, are also nearby in the sky. Andromeda is also bordered by Lacerta, which
was a part of constellations that were added in the 17th century by Johannes Hevelius to fill in the
gaps of the northern sky. [11]
Three of the brightest stars in the Andromeda Constellation make up her head, her pelvis,
and her left foot. The star that is her head is And, also called Alpheratz. This star is actually a
binary star system. The brighter of the two stars is unusual in that it has a high amount of
mercury and manganese. Its luminosity is 200 times the sun and is the brightest mercury star

known. Andromedas pelvis is And, also called Mirach. . The left foot of Andromeda is the
And, also called Almac, it is also a binary star. The larger star is a yellow giant its companion
star is blue. [1] The 20 brightest stars within the Andromeda Constellation are listed in the table
below. [6]
NAME
And
And
1 And
And
51 And
And
And
And
And
And
And
And
And
And
And
And
And
And
7 And

RA
00h 08m
3.17s
01h 09m
3.80s
02h 03m
3.92s
00h 39m
9.60s
01h 37m
9.50s
23h 01m
5.25s
23h 37m
3.71s
00h 56m
5.10s
00h 47m
0.39s
01h 36m
7.98s
23h 40m
4.44s
01h 09m
0.12s
23h 38m
8.18s
00h 36m
2.84s
00h 38m
3.50s
00h 57m
2.43s
00h 18m
9.71s
00h 49m
8.83s
23h 12m
2.92s

Dec
2
4
5
1
5
5
3
4
2
4
2
3
0
5
3
1
1
4
3

+29 05
27.0
+35 37
15.0
+42 19
47.5
+30 51
40.4
+48 37
42.6
+42 19
33.5
+46 27
33.0
+38 29
57.3
+24 16
02.6
+41 24
23.0
+44 20
02.3
+47 14
30.6
+43 16
05.1
+33 43
09.7
+29 18
44.5
+23 25
03.9
+36 47
07.2
+41 04
44.2
+49 24
21.5

Vis.
Mag.
2.07

Distance
(ly)
97

Spectral
class
B9p

2.07

199

M0IIIvar

2.1

355

K3IIb

3.27

101

K3III...

3.59

174

K3III

3.62

692

B6pv SB

3.81

84

G8III-IV

3.86

136

A5V

4.08

181

K1II

4.1

44

F8V

4.15

170

B9IVn

4.26

736

B7III

4.29

502

B8V

4.34

656

B5V

4.34

169

G5III...

4.4

243

G8III-IV

4.51

141

A2V

4.53

679

B5V SB

4.53

80

F0V

 And

00h 17m 0
5.54s

+38 40
54.0

4.61

253

A2V

Table #1. List of stars in

Andromeda. [6]

Objects of Interest
There are a number of interesting objects in the Andromeda constellation. There are a
couple Messier objects, as well as some NGC objects. The most prominent of these objects is
M31 Galaxy known colloquially as the Andromeda Galaxy. At 2.5 million ly from Earth, the
M31 Galaxy is the closest major galaxy to our galaxy, the Milky Way. It is a spiral galaxy similar
to our own but it is more than twice the diameter. With a visual magnitude of 3.4 it is brighter
than the number of galaxies that exist within our local group. The Milky Way and the
Andromeda are on a collision course however, and should collide in about 5 billion years, so
keep your eyes open for that. [11]

Figure #3. Andromeda (constellation). [17]

The brightness and size of the Andromeda Galaxy means that the galaxy has been studied
for quite some time. M31 was discovered in 964 AD by the Persian astronomer Al-Sufi and for
centuries it was thought to simply be a nebula because the telescopes of the time were not
powerful enough to make out the individual stars. It was Edwin Hubble, in the early 20th century
to discover, that M31 was actually a galaxy far outside our own. Hubble discovered this by
measuring the distance of the Cepheid stars in Andromeda. Since Cepheid stars luminosity is
known, they are often used to calculate distance easily, and in this case, helped show M31s true
nature. This discovery that M31 was a galaxy instead of a nebula played a crucial role in the
beginning of more discoveries of galaxies outside our own. [11]
While the Andromeda galaxy has been studied for quite some time there are still a
number of mysteries associated with it. As stated above, it is more than twice the diameter of our

Milky Way galaxy but it appears to be less massive. This is confusing to astronomers because the
super massive black hole that lies at the center of the M31s galaxy is more massive than the
black hole that lies at the center of the Milky Way. It is believed that the mass of the black holes
that lie in the center of galaxies is a result of the mass of that galaxy and since mass of the black
hole in Andromedas galaxy is larger than the Milky Ways it should make the mass of the galaxy
larger too, but it does not appear to be the case. It leaves the challenge of discovering more about
the galaxy to future astronomers. [11]
Another object of within the constellation is the nebula NGC 7662,
known as The Blue Snowball. It gets its name from the blue green
color that it has. It is closer to Earth than M31 at 2,200 ly away with a
visual magnitude of 8.3. The Blue Snowball is a popular object for
amateur astronomers because it is easily seen with a relatively low
powered telescope. [2]

Figure # 4. NGC
7662. [12]

The Andromeda Constellation also has an open star cluster

called NGC 752. This star cluster is also popular with amateur astronomers because it can be
seen with binoculars. However, a telescope would be needed to make out the individual stars.
NGC 752 is unique because it is an unusually old open star cluster. The star cluster is 1300 ly
from earth with a magnitude of 5.7. [10]
A smaller galaxy in the constellation is the M110 is a dwarf elliptical galaxy, and a
companion galaxy to Andromeda. It is 2.9 million ly away. It has 8 globular clusters around it.
Despite the age of the globular clusters there are a number of young blue stars that reside in the

galaxy. It is possible that these new stars are being created due to tidal
friction caused by M110s close proximity to the Andromeda Galaxy. [8]
M32 is another dwarf elliptical galaxy within the constellation. It
is about 2.65 million ly away from Earth. With practically no dust
clouds in the galaxy, it appears that M32 is no longer creating new stars.
Tidal forces from the nearby Andromeda galaxy possibly stripped away the spiral
arms#if5.M110.
M32,
Figure
[14]

leaving behind only the central bulge. It is relatively bright with a magnitude of 8.1 thus making
it visible with only a pair of binoculars which makes it fun for amateur astronomers.[9] Unlike
M110, M32 contains a super massive black hole at its center. The black hole is at a stage where it
is not pulling in any gasses, therefore it contains no notable accretion disc. [7]

Figure # 6. M32.
[13]

NGC 404 is yet another galaxy known as Mirachs Ghost. It is classified as a Lenticular
galaxy. It lies relatively close on the Celestial Sphere to the star Mirach making it difficult to see
on its own. Though it was thought to be a dead galaxy, it turns out that NGC 404 has been
shown to have a ring of young stars around it. This ring of new stars has been attributed to a
violent collision between NGC 404 and another galaxy some 900 million years ago. [4]

Figure #7. NGC

404. [15]

Bibliography
[1] Andromeda Constellation. 2016. Web. April 2016. <http://www.constellation-guide.com/constellationlist/andromeda-constellation/>.

[2] Blue Snowball. Encyclopedia of Science. n.d. Web. April 2016.

<http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/B/Blue_Snowball_Nebula.html>.
[3] Dixon-Kennedy, Mike. "Encyclopedia of Greco-Roman Mythology." Santa Barbara, California: ABCCLIO, Inc., 1998. 32,217. Print.
[4] 'Ghost of Mirach' Materializes in Space Telescope Image. 31 October 2008. Web. April 2016.
<http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=1926>.
[5] Hamilton, Edith. Mythology. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1942. Print.
[6] List of stars in Andromeda. Wikipedia. n.d. Web. April 2016.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_stars_in_Andromeda>.
[7] M32. Black Holes Encyclopedia. n.d. Web. April 2016.
<http://blackholes.stardate.org/objects/factsheet.php?p=M32>.
[8] Messier 110. Universe Today.Feb 2016. Web. April 2016.
<http://www.universetoday.com/50215/messier-110/>.
[9] Messier 32 M32 - Dwarf Elliptical Galaxy. Freestarcharts. d. Web. April 2016.
<http://freestarcharts.com/messier-32>.
[10] NGC 752. Encyclopedia of Science. n.d. Web.
<http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/N/NGC_752.html>.
[11] Rees, Martin J. Universe. New York: DK. Pub, 2012. Print.
[12] NGC 7662. Wikipedia. Web. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC_7662.>
[13] Messier 32.Wikipedia.Web. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messier_32>
[14] Messier 110. Wikipedia. Web. < https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messier_110>
[15] NGC 404. Wikipedia. Web. < https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC_404>
[16] Perseus and Andromeda (Rebens).Wikipedia. Web.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perseus_and_Andromeda_(Rubens)>

[17] Andromeda (constellation). Wikipedia. Web.

<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andromeda_(constellation)#CITEREFRussell1922>

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