Many of the constellations have epic tales of heroism with a lot of romance mixed in, both in good and bad ways. One of the best is the saga of Perseus the Hero, a constellation perched fairly high in the eastern sky these early November evenings. Perseus is not one of the brightest constellations in the heavens, but it’s still fairly easy to spot. It kind of looks like a stickman. He has two arms, one of them clutching the severed head of Medusa, and that’s where our story begins.
Perseus was one of the many children of Zeus, the king of the gods. One day Zeus dispatched Perseus to the countryside to rip off the head of the monster called Medusa. Looking at Medusa turned you to stone.
Armed with the winged shoes of Mercury, the messenger of the gods, and the magic shield of Athena, the goddess of wisdom, Perseus was able to locate Medusa without actually looking directly at the monster. Medusa was so ugly that instead of hair, snakes were growing out of its head. Using some fancy maneuvers, Perseus dove down and with all his might grabbed a handful of snakes and ripped the head off of the monster.
A funny thing happened on the way back to Mount Olympus, though. As Perseus flew over the sea, drops of blood from the snake- head ed monster fell into the sea. When the drops hit the water therewas a puff of watery smoke and a flying horse emerged and flew up to Perseus’ side and flew in formation with him. Perseus named his new pet Pegasus.
As Perseus and Pegasus flew on over the sea, they came across a perilous scene. A young woman was chained to a rock on the shore, and a big ugly green sea monster was charging at her. Perseus had to act quickly. Using Athena’s shield to protect his eyes, he pulled out the head of Medusa and shook it right in the sea monster’s face, and sure enough, the sea beast turned to stone and sank into the deep blue waters.
Then, without even being commanded, Pegasus flew down to Andromeda’s side and chewed through the chain, freeing the princess. Andromeda hopped on Pegasus’ back and flew up to Perseus. That’s when some real magic happened. When their eyes met it was big time love. As soon as Andromeda and Perseus, along with their faithful horse Pegasus, arrived home from their mission, wedding bells clanged.
After Perseus’ untimely death, the gods on Mount Olympus turned his body into the constellation we see in the eastern early evening sky the time of year. By the way, there are also constellations in the nearby that honor Pegasus and Andromeda. It’s only right that they are all together in the eastern sky this time of year.
Right about where the head of Medusa is located in the constellation is a star called Algol, also known as “the demon star”. Astronomically Algol is an eclipsing binary star, a pair of stars that orbit each other in a three-day cycle. As the stars rapidly circle each other they eclipse each other. It looks like the demon star is sinisterly blinking at you … a reminder of the menacing Medusa.
An absolute must-see in the constellation Perseus is the great Perseus Double Cluster, just above the hero’s head and not all that far away from neighboring Cassiopeia. If you’re lucky enough to be stargazing in the countryside you can see it with the naked eye as a misty patch among the stars. It’s a wonderful target with a pair of binoculars or a small telescope.
Mike Lynch is an amateur astronomer, professional broadcast meterologist and author of the book, “Stars; a Month by Month Tour of the Constellations.”
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