Cepheus (constellation)
| Constellation | |
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| Abbreviation | Cep |
|---|---|
| Genitive | Cephei |
| Pronunciation |
/ˈsiːfiəs/ or /ˈsiːfjuːs/; genitive /ˈsiːfiaɪ/ |
| Symbolism | the King/King Cepheus |
| Right ascension | 20h 01m 56.4481s–09h 03m 19.7931s |
| Declination | 88.6638870°–53.3532715° |
| Family | Perseus |
| Area | 588 sq. deg. (27th) |
| Main stars | 7 |
|
Bayer/Flamsteed stars |
43 |
| Stars with planets | 1 |
| Stars brighter than 3.00m | 1 |
| Stars within 10.00 pc (32.62 ly) | 3 |
| Brightest star | α Cep (Alderamin) (2.45m) |
| Nearest star |
Kruger 60 (13.15 ly, 4.03 pc) |
| Messier objects | 0 |
| Meteor showers | None |
| Bordering constellations |
Cygnus Lacerta Cassiopeia Camelopardalis Draco Ursa Minor |
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Visible at latitudes between +90° and −10°. Best visible at 21:00 (9 p.m.) during the month of November. |
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Cepheus is a constellation in the northern sky. It is named after Cepheus, King of Aethiopia in Greek mythology. It was one of the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd century astronomer Ptolemy, and remains one of the 88 modern constellations. Its brightest star is Alpha Cephei with an apparent magnitude of 3.5. Delta Cephei is the prototype of an important class of star known as a Cepheid variable. RW Cephei, an orange hypergiant, together with the red supergiants Mu Cephei, VV Cephei and V354 Cephei are among the largest stars known. In addition, Cepheus also has the hyperluminous quasar S5 0014+81, hosting an ultramassive black hole in its core at 40 billion solar masses, about 10,000 times more massive than the central black hole of the Milky Way, making it the most massive black hole known in the universe.
Cepheus was the King of Aethiopia. He was married to Cassiopeia and was the father of Andromeda, both of whom are immortalized as modern day constellations along with Cepheus.
Delta Cephei is the prototype Cepheid variable, a yellow-hued supergiant star 980 light-years from Earth. It was discovered to be variable by John Goodricke in 1784. It varies between 3.5m and 4.4m over a period of 5 days and 9 hours. The Cepheids are a class of pulsating variable stars; Delta Cephei has a minimum size of 40 solar diameters and a maximum size of 46 solar diameters. It is also a double star; the yellow star also has a wide-set blue-hued companion of magnitude 6.3.
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Wikipedia