In the darkest skies, you might spy another
large galaxy lurking there, M33. The Zodiac
star groups of Pisces and Aqaurius stretch west
from Aries, but these are hardly obvious if you
live in the city and will take practice to
find. Two of the most obscure constellations
can be seen (barely) to the east and west of
Cassiopeia's "W": Camelopardalis the giraffe,
and tiny Lacerta the lizard.
The far north offers a few
interesting targets, including the north star
(Polaris) and the curving snaky form of Draco
the dragon in the northwest. On the opposite
horizon, faint star groups like Sculptor (the
Sculptor, duh) and Fornax (his furnace for
firing clay) are hard to spot but are favorites
of serious amateurs with larger telescopes
because of the many distant galaxies that lurk
thereabouts.
Fortunately, our constellation feature is easy
to find: Perseus, the hero of ancient Greek
myths. Many of the constellations of this time
of year figure in his story: Andromeda is his
girlfriend, Cassiopeia and Cepheus are the
in-laws, Pegasus is his preferred mode of
transportation, and Cetus is a sea monster that
once gave Perseus a bad time. To find our hero
himself, look for the "W" of Cassiopeia high
overhead. Turn yourself so that Cassie looks
like a "W" and not an "M", and then simply
scoot your view to the left. You'll know
you've struck paydirt when you see Mirfak, a
bright white star at the top of Perseus. Mirfak
is attended by a swarm of smaller stars that
make an elongated oval in the sky. To find out
more about Perseus, click on our constellation
feature heading.
Remember, planets are not shown on this chart -
for information about them, see our "planets
this month" section.