Andromeda (mythology) - Constellations

Constellations

Andromeda is represented in the northern sky by the constellation Andromeda, which contains the Andromeda Galaxy.

Four constellations are associated with the myth. Viewing the fainter stars visible to the naked eye, the constellations are rendered as:

• A large man wearing a crown, upside down with respect to the ecliptic (the constellation Cepheus)
• A smaller figure, next to the man, sitting on a chair; as it is near the pole star, it may be seen by observers in the Northern Hemisphere through the whole year, although sometimes upside down (the constellation Cassiopeia)
• A maiden, chained up, facing or turning away from the ecliptic (the constellation Andromeda), next to Pegasus
• A whale just under the ecliptic (the constellation Cetus)

Other constellations related to the story are:

• Perseus
• The constellation Pegasus, who was born from the stump of Medusa's neck, after Perseus had decapitated her
• The constellation Pisces, which may have been treated as two fish caught by Dictys the fisherman who was brother of Polydectes, king of Seriphos, the place where Perseus and his mother Danaë were stranded