More darkness to go around

With the advent of earlier darkness these October evenings, now is a time to get outside and peruse the sky. Of special interest will be the grouping of constellations I like to find this time of year telling the story of the hero Perseus and his feats of daring do to win the hand of the love of his life, the fair damsel Andromeda.

In the mythological stories concerning this group, the whole thing started when Cassiopeia, the queen of Ethiopia, bragged that her daughter, Andromeda, was prettier than any of the other girls around. Now, this angered Poseidon, the sea god, because he thought his daughters, the Nereids, were the prettiest.

In order to ease this offense, he decreed that Andromeda was to be chained to some rocks where Neptune's favorite sea monster would devour her. This didn't set too well with Perseus, who had been off slaying the evil Gorgon Medusa (you remember her, the one with the snaky hair?). When some of the blood from the severed head of Medusa fell into the sea, this flying horse, Pegasus, popped up.

Mounting the flying horse, Perseus flew to the aid of his love, used the severed snaky head of Medusa to turn the beast into stone and save the pretty girl and they all lived happily ever after. Or something like that.

Let's start with the biggest and easiest to find, Pegasus, the Flying Horse. Go outside to your favorite dark sky place at about 7:30 p.m. MDT. Look east about two fists width held at arm's length for a group of four fairly bright stars forming a square. Only this square will be tipped up on one end looking like a baseball diamond. That is the body of Pegasus.

Look to the star at the north corner of the square (its name is Alpheratz). That star is the starting point of two lines of stars extending north. Those two lines represent the constellation Andromeda, sort of like arms reaching for her love, Perseus, which is a group of stars in the shape of an "A" at the end of those arms in the northeast. Located above Perseus are the five stars in the shape of a "W." That is Cassiopeia, the Queen.

Now, we only have one constellation left, and that is the sea monster itself. It is represented by the constellation Cetus, called by some a whale. For our story, it is the sea monster come to devour the fair Andromeda. It is located on the other side of the sky from the others. Look in the southeast at about 9 p.m. MDT. This is a fairly dim constellation and may be difficult to find. Come down, below Pegasus through an equally dim zodiacal constellation Pisces, the Fish then farther down to a circle of stars that form the head of the beast. The body is to the left looking like a rectangle also made up of dim stars.

To help a little, the tiny star cluster, the Pleiades, is just to the left of the circlet.

SKY WATCH:

Jupiter is the bright object in the southeast early in the evening. In the early morning hours look for a slightly brighter Venus in the east about an hour before sunrise. Above Venus is the dim dot that is Saturn coming back into view from being around on the far side of the sun. Mars is also in the morning sky, look high above Venus and Saturn for the red planet just below the two bright stars, Castor and Pollux in Gemini. Follow Mars during the coming days as it drifts east into M44, the Beehive Star Cluster. Oct. 31, Nov. 1 and 2 will be the prime days for this event.

On Oct. 26 the moon will be near Jupiter and near Neptune on Oct. 27. Don't confuse the planet for a line of three stars lined up east to west just to its right.

NEXT TIME:

More astronomical blathering.