The constellation of Cassiopeia, the Queen // Cyril NOGER
Click below for an annotated image and some info about the five stars that make up Cassiopeia!
The stars, in order of brightness:
Schedar (α Cassiopeiae) is a solitary orange giant star about 228 light years from Earth. Its name comes from the Arabic word şadr meaning "chest," marking its place as the heart of Queen Cassiopeia.
Caph (β Cassiopeiae) is solitary yellow-white giant star about 55 light years from Earth. Its name comes from the Arabic word kaf meaning "palm."
Tiansi (γ Cassiopeiae) is a binary star system consisting of a blue giant star and a white dwarf and lies about 550 light years distant. Its name is a recent one, given to it in November 2025. It comes from the Chinese words Tiān Sì (天駟) meaning "heavenly quadriga," pulling the chariot of Wangliang (β Cassiopeiae). It is responsible for lighting up the nearby "Ghost of Cassiopeia" nebula.
Ruchbah (δ Cassiopeiae) is a binary star system about 100 light years from Earth. The primary is a blue-white giant star. The name comes from the Arabic word rukbah meaning "knee."
Segin (ε Cassiopeiae) is a solitary blue giant star about 470 light years from Earth. The origin of its name is unknown.
Not a part of the lines that make up the constellation are a few other named stars:
Achird (η Cassiopeiae) is a binary star system consisting of a yellow Sun-like star and a red dwarf. The entire system lies about 19 light years away. The name was originally assigned to this star in 1950, but its origin is unknown.
Fulu (ζ Cassiopeiae) is a blue-white giant star about 590 light years from Earth. Its name comes from Chinese astronomy, Fùlù (附路) meaning "auxiliary road," because this star is marking itself and standing alone in the Auxiliary Road asterism.
Cexing (κ Cassiopeiae) is a blue-white supergiant star about 4,000 light years away. Its name comes from a portmanteau of the Chinese words Cè (策) meaning "the charioteer's whip" and xing meaning "star."
Castula (υ² Cassiopeiae) is a solitary yellow giant star about 196 light years from Earth. The name comes from the Latin word for a type of woman's tunic.
It was great to get out before dawn to see many familiar celestial figures as a harbinger of the more comfortable and cooler autumn weather up ahead. I dodged the familiar figure of Andromeda facing left here centering on M31 with Alpheratz top, Mirach then Almach forming the "backbone." The red giant Scheat in Pegasus is prominent toward the top center with Lacerta below. The two prominent stars bottom center, the white Caph and the orange/red Schedar, are from the familiar Cassiopeia (making her a redhead I guess?)
The constellation of Cassiopeia, the Seated Queen // Ryan Fraser
Cassiopeia is named after the mythological Queen Cassiopeia of Ethiopia. As the story goes, she and her husband, Cepheus, were the parents of Andromeda. Cassiopeia boasted that her daughter was more beautiful than the Nereids, Poseidon’s daughters. This enraged Poseidon who sent the sea monster Cetus to ravage the lands of Ethiopia as punishment. Cepheus, being a A+ father, asked the oracles what he should do to rid his land of this monster, and they told him to offer Andromeda up to Cetus. These two parents chained their daughter to the cliff face and waited for Cetus to eat Andromeda. Thankfully, Perseus happened to swing by and rescued Andromeda. To immortalize this story, Zeus put all of these people up in the sky as constellations.
Click below to read about the five bright stars that make up the "W" shape of Cassiopeia!
In order of brightness, from brightest to faintest:
Schedar (α Cassiopeiae) is an orange giant star about 230 light years from Earth. It is named after the Arabic word şadr meaning "breast," marking its position at the heart of Queen Cassiopeia.
Caph (β Cassiopeiae) is a yellow-white giant star about 55 light years away. Its name comes from the Arabic word kaf meaning "palm."
Navi (γ Cassiopeiae) is a quadruple star system. The primary star is a blue-white subgiant star about 550 ligth years away. It is named after American astronaut Virgil Ivan "Gus" Grissom who flew on Gemini 3 and tragically lost his life in the Apollo 1 fire. Navi is his middle name spelled backwards.
Ruchbah (δ Cassiopeiae) is a binary star system about 100 light years away. It is named after the Arabic word rukbah meaning "knee."
Segin (ε Cassiopeiae) is a solitary blue star about 470 light years away. Its name is a bad transcription of the word seginus, the traditional name for γ Boötis, although the origin of the name is unknown.
The constellation of Cassiopeia, the Seated Queen // CHERUBINO
Read below the cut for some info about these five stars!
From brightest to dimmest:
Schedar (α Cassiopeiae) is an orange giant star about 228 light years away with 4 times the mass and over 700 times the brightness of the Sun. Its name comes from the Arabic word şadr meaning "breast", marking its place at the heart of the Queen.
Caph (β Cassiopeiae) is a white giant star about 55 light years away with nearly twice the mass of the Sun. Its name comes from the Arabic word kaf meaning "palm."
Navi (γ Cassiopeiae) is a blue giant star about 550 light years away with 13 times the mass and 34,000 times the brightness of the Sun! Its name comes from the American astronaut Virgil Ivan "Gus" Grissom (1926-1967), Gemini 3 and Apollo 1 astronaut. Navi was an easily identifiable star during the Space Race and he nicknamed it as such after his own middle name spelled backwards.
Ruchbah (δ Cassiopeiae) is a blue-white giant star about 100 light years away with 2.5 times the mass of the Sun. Its name comes from the Arabic word rukbah meaning "knee".
Segin (ε Cassiopeiae) is a blue giant star about 470 light years away with 9 times the mass and 6 times the size of the Sun. Its name comes from a bad transcription of Seginus, the name for γ Boötis. The name for both stars has an unknown origin.
Read below the cut to learn more about the stars that make up the "W" shape of Cassiopeia!
Cassiopeia is named after the mythological Queen Cassiopeia of Ethiopia. As the story goes, she and her husband, Cepheus, were the parents of Andromeda. Cassiopeia boasted that her daughter was more beautiful than the Nereids, Poseidon's daughters. This enraged Poseidon who sent the sea monster Cetus to ravage the lands of Ethiopia as punishment. Cepheus, being a A+ father, asked the oracles what he should do to rid his land of this monster, and they told him to offer Andromeda up to Cetus. These two parents chained their daughter to the cliff face and waited for Cetus to eat Andromeda. Thankfully, Perseus happened to swing by and rescued Andromeda. To immortalize this story, Zeus put all of these people up in the sky as constellations.
In order of brightness, from brightest to dimmest:
Schedar (α Cassiopeiae) is named after the Arabic word şadr meaning "breast", marking its position as the heart of Queen Cassiopeia. Schedar is a solitary red giant star about 228 light years away.
Caph (β Cassiopeiae) is named after the Arabic word kaf meaning "palm" and marks the hand of Cassiopeia. Caph is a yellow-white giant star about 55 light years away.
Navi (γ Cassiopeiae) is named after American astronaut Virgil Ivan "Gus" Grissom who flew on Gemini 3 and tragically lost his life in Apollo 1. Navi is his middle name spelled backwards. Navi is a quadruple star system. The primary is a blue-white subgiant star about 550 light years away.
Ruchbah (δ Cassiopeiae) is named after the Arabic word rukbah meaning "knee", although why it is called that is unknown. Ruchbah is a binary system with the primary being a blue-white subgiant about 100 light years away.
Segin (ε Cassiopeiae) is a bad transcription of the word seginus, the traditional name for γ Boötis, although the origin of that name is uncertain. Segin is a solitary blue star about 470 light years away.
Use this annotated image to help find all the stars in this image!
