"One can acquire some peace of mind from just watching that horizon. It's a geometer's line...completely flat, steady and known. Perhaps it's the original line that gave rise to Euclid's understanding of lineness; a reference line from which was derived the original calculations of the first astronomers that charted the stars."
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, p.378
Welcome to our website! Entertained yet? This is the cumulative project of two students in the Astronomy and Cosmology 2003 program at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington.
When we were asked to pick a topic to research, we quickly chose Cassiopeia, a beautiful constellation that is a favorite to both of us. For me, Emily, the choice was made for my dead grandfather, Robert, who loved astronomy. He taught me many constellations as a child and instilled in me a curiosity about the sky. He was the reason I took this class. Cassiopeia was his favorite constellation, even to the point of naming his dog after it. "Cassy", as we call her, outlived him but carries the name with pride. The choice was a sentimental one for Katherine, as well. Knowing little of the night sky when we first became friends, she remembers me pointing out Cassiopeia first of all. It stuck with her. Also, as a camp councelor in the summers, she has many opportunities to share her new knowledge of star lore.
Cas, to use her astronomy abbreviation, is mainly made up of five bright stars: Schedar (Arabic for "best"), Caph ("hand"), Cih ("whip" in Chinese), Ruchbah (Arabic for "knee") and Segin. The group is, in the popular lexicon, called Cassiopeia after the Greek myth, which involves the adjacent constellations of Perseus, Pegasus, Andromeda and etc. For more on that, see The Legends. For the irony apparent in the last few facts, see the quote beginning this page.
Besides those five brightest stars are many more. The Cas constellation area also includes two official Messier objects, open clusters M52 and M103, as well as NGC7635, aka "The Bubble Nebula", and many more deep sky objects. One star, known now as Cas A, went supernova several centuries ago, the remnant of which is of great interest today. For more about this, see The Science and Phenomenon.
To see a list of our sources and get links to more information on the web, click Sources.
Webmistress Emily can be contacted by clicking "Contact" in the side menu. Katherine can be reached here.
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