Sailing gracefully across our northern skies, Cassiopeia the Queen is one of the easiest constellations to find in the Northern Hemisphere
It’s visible at any time of the night, at any time of the year, and its stars are all relatively bright. Head outside on the next clear night and see if you can spot her!
Cassiopeia looks like a large, jagged “W”, composed of about 5-6 stars. If you can find the Big Dipper and the North Star, locating Cassiopeia should be a piece of cake. These spring evenings, the Big Dipper is high overhead, with the two stars on the end of its bowl pointing north, toward the North Star. On the other side of the North Star, opposite the Big Dipper, you can find Cassiopeia.
Here’s a trick to remember. In the northern sky, the Big Dipper and Cassiopeia are almost straight across from each other, with the North Star being the monkey-in-the-middle.
This means that Cassiopeia is always in the opposite side of the northern sky as the Big Dipper. If the Big Dipper is in the northeast, Cassiopeia is in the northwest. If the Big Dipper is in the northwest, Cassiopeia is in the northeast, and so forth. Since the Big Dipper is high overhead on a spring evening, Cassiopeia should be between the North Star and your northern horizon.
Because of its proximity to Polaris, Cassiopeia is called a circumpolar constellation, which means it swirls perpetually around our north star and never sets beyond the horizon. Ursa Major, the constellation containing the Big Dipper, is another circumpolar constellation. Try imagining the northern sky as a clock, with the North Star at its center. The Big Dipper and Cassiopeia would be like the hands of the clock, rotating around Polaris over the course of 24 hours. Other circumpolar constellations include Draco, Ursa Minor, and Cepheus.
While the southern stars come and go with the seasons, these guys remain constant and reliable in our northern skies. Make friends with them now, and you’ll be lifelong chums!
