Look up! Cassiopeia

When you look at the stars, you’re viewing the past via light that began its journey many years ago. My best friend likes to think of his telescope as a time machine. Nothing travels faster than light, and the light we see from stars can take centuries to reach earth. For instance, the light from our sun takes just over eight minutes to reach us. When we safely view the sun through a solar scope and see flares, we see this in relatively real time. (These flares create the auroras that we’ve seen in our area the past 18 months.) But because of the vast distances of our universe, when you see a star shining down, you are seeing the light it emitted years or even centuries ago. When we look up, it’s possible that some of the stars we see no longer exist. 

Constellations are made of an imaginary pattern of stars, and though they look like they are close together when we see them, they are actually a great distance from each other. One such constellation, Cassiopeia, is made of five stars that are 55 to 610 light years away, meaning the light we see from them was emitted 55 to 610 years ago. First discovered in the second century and named after a vain queen in Greek mythology, it’s easily recognizable by its distinctive W or M shape in the northern sky, circling Polaris (the North Star) throughout the year. This means the constellation is circumpolar.

Time to star hop!  

Finding Cassiopeia is easy. Riding on opposite sides of a carousel, Cassiopeia is always on the other side of Polaris from the Big Dipper. First, find the Big Dipper, and then focus on the two stars that make up the edge of its bowl. From them, draw an imaginary line to Polaris, and then through to the other side you’ll land on Cassiopeia. Despite light pollution, this constellation is visible even within city limits, so gaze upward next time you’re enjoying an evening picnic at Medi-Park or a warm autumn night on your patio.