Andromeda: The Chained Woman

Joshua Wihongi
Physics 1040 Sp17
Constellation Paper

Mythology

The Andromeda Constellation was named by the ancient Greeks who lived around 3,000

BC. The myth behind how the Andromeda constellation came to be starts with a young princess
in the kingdom of Ethiopia. She was the daughter of Queen Cassiopeia and King Cepheus.

Cassiopeia said that Andromeda, the princess, was more beautiful than the sea nymphs, the

Nereids. The Nereids told the sea god Poseidon about this which angered him. Poseidon

threatened to destroy the kingdom by sending a flood as well as a sea monster to destroy

Cepheuss kingdom. The kingdoms oracle told the king that he would need to chain his daughter

to a sea-cliff to be eaten by this sea monster. Cepheus listened to the oracle and chained his

daughter to be sacrificed for the sake of the kingdom. [1,6]

The son of Zeus and nephew of the king of the city of Argos, Perseus, noticed

Andromeda while sailing and fell in love right away. Perseus decided to meet with Andromedas

parents to propose a deal. He promised them he would save their daughter if they, in exchange,

allowed him to marry her. Cepheus and Cassiopeia accepted this proposal. [1,6]

Perseus flew over to Andromeda on the winged horse Pegasus and killed the monster

right before Andromeda was about to get devoured. In one version of the story, Perseus killed the

monster by cutting off its head with his sword. In another version, Perseus kills the monster by

showing it the head of Medusa, a creature previously slain by Perseus, which turned the monster

into stone. [1,6]

While her parents forgot about the promise they made with Perseus, Andromeda did not

and married Perseus. They later moved out of the country and ruled over Tiryns and Mycenae.

The Greek goddess of Wisdom, Athena, rewarded Andromeda for keeping her promise by

placing her image among the stars. Perseus was also placed in the stars next to Andromeda after

both died. We know of this story today because it was recorded by many in the distant past. The

story is most commonly known from Ovids Metamorphoses. [1,6,7]

The Andromeda constellation is visible in the Northern Hemisphere and is best seen in

October, November or December. Andromeda shares a star with Pegasus connecting the two

together. Located at Andromedas feet is Perseus and bordering Andromeda is Cepheus,

Cassiopeia, Triangulum, and Lacerta. This constellation can also be found relatively close to

Ursa Major and Minor. The constellation is visible at latitudes between +90 and -40. It also has

a right ascension between 23h25m and 02h39m and a declination between 53 and 21.6. The

area of sky the constellation covers is about 722 square degrees. As seen in figure #1, the shape

of the constellation appears to be a stick figure woman with a chain on her right side which is

why the constellation is also known as The Chained Woman. [2,8].

Andromeda also has quite a few prominent stars, some of which can be seen visibly from

Earth. In table #1 a list of the 20 brightest stars in the constellation is shown including their

location, distance, visual magnitude, spectral classification along with their name or designation.

Name RA DEC Vis, Mag. Dist. (ly) Spectral class

And
01h 09m 43.80s +35 37 15.0 2.07 199 M0IIIvar
1
And
02h 03m 53.92s +42 19 47.5 2.10 355 K3IIb
And
00h 39m 19.60s +30 51 40.4 3.27 101 K3III...
Andromeda Galaxy
00h 42m 44.31s +41 16 09.4 3.44 2540000
51 And
01h 37m 59.50s +48 37 42.6 3.59 174 K3III
And
23h 01m 55.25s +42 19 33.5 3.62 692 B6pv SB
And
23h 37m 33.71s +46 27 33.0 3.81 84 G8III-IV
 And
00h 56m 45.10s +38 29 57.3 3.86 136 A5V
And
00h 47m 20.39s +24 16 02.6 4.08 181 K1II
And
01h 36m 47.98s +41 24 23.0 4.10 44 F8V
And
23h 40m 24.44s +44 20 02.3 4.15 170 B9IVn
And
01h 09m 30.12s +47 14 30.6 4.26 736 B7III
And
23h 38m 08.18s +43 16 05.1 4.29 502 B8V
And
00h 36m 52.84s +33 43 09.7 4.34 656 B5V
And
00h 38m 33.50s +29 18 44.5 4.34 169 G5III...
And
00h 57m 12.43s +23 25 03.9 4.40 243 G8III-IV
And
00h 18m 19.71s +36 47 07.2 4.51 141 A2V
And
00h 49m 48.83s +41 04 44.2 4.53 679 B5V SB
7 And
23h 12m 32.92s +49 24 21.5 4.53 80 F0V
Table #1 [5]

Objects of Interest

The Andromeda constellation does not only include stars but also contains many other

interesting objects. One of those objects is a dwarf elliptical galaxy by the name of Le Gentil or

Messier 32. Messier 32 received its name from a French astronomer by the name of Guillaume

Le Gentil who discovered it in 1749. [4]

Le Gentil is located about 2.49 million light years from Earth with a visual magnitude of

8.08. Its right ascension is 00h 42m 41.8s with a declination of +405155 vv. The radius of

the galaxy is 3,2752,500 light years. The galaxy can be seen with binoculars; however, it will

only appear like a hazy patch of light. The shape of the galaxy can be seen better with the help of

a telescope but it is still dim in comparison with its neighboring galaxy, Messier 31. [4]
 Le Gentil hardly contains any gas or dust showing that there is no current star forming

activity in the galaxy. The galaxy currently contains mostly old red and yellow stars providing

evidence that the galaxy is quite old. The mass of the galaxy is 3 billion solar masses and is

currently approaching us at 205 km/s. The spectral class of the galaxy is G3. Similar to our

galaxy, Le Gentil contains a supermassive black hole at the center with an estimated mass

between 1.5 and 5 million solar masses. [4]

Le Gentil is also one of the 14 known satellite galaxies orbiting the larger Andromeda

Galaxy or Messier 32. Le Gentil along with Messier 110 are the two brightest galaxies orbiting

the Andromeda galaxy. Both were resolved by German astronomer Walter Baade in 1944 with

the help of a 100-inch telescope in Los Angeles. [4]

Arguably the most known object located in the Andromeda constellation is Messier 31,

more commonly known as the Andromeda Galaxy (Figure #2), named because of its location

within the constellation. This galaxy is a large spiral galaxy located 2.54 million light years away

from Earth. What makes this galaxy so interesting is its the closest major galaxy to our own and

is currently on a path towards collision with our galaxy. This collision is estimated to happen in

about 4 billion years. [3]

The Andromeda Galaxy has an apparent magnitude of 3.44 making it fairly easy to see

from earth. The galaxy can be seen near the Great Square of Pegasus and the Cassiopeia

constellations. Only two other objects are brighter than Messier 31 making the distinction of the

galaxy simple once the relative location is found. Like the entire constellation itself, the galaxy is

easier seen during the winter months. The right ascension of the galaxy is 00h 42m 44.3s with a

declination of +41169. [3]

with the naked eye. One of the first documented observations of the object with a telescope was

by German astronomer Simon Marius on December 15, 1612. He describes it more as a nebula

located within the Milky Way Galaxy along within many astronomers thereafter until recent

technologies could determine the object as a galaxy. [3]

Another interesting aspect of the Andromeda galaxy was how it was formed. The galaxy

formed through a collision between two smaller galaxies between 5 and 9 billion years ago. This

collision resulted in the galaxy having an extremely metal-rich halo and extended disk. This

process lead to Messier 31 becoming an extremely luminous infrared galaxy. Messier 31 is also

extremely large. Its diameter is estimated to be about 220,000 light years. [3]

Within Messier 31, around 1 trillion stars are estimated to be located within the galaxy. Along

with these stars, there have been 35 stellar-mass black holes detected as well. These were formed

after the collapse of higher mass stars. While its inevitable that planets are also located within

the galaxy, none have been discovered as of yet. [4]

1) Andromeda." Myth about Andromeda and Perseus - Windows to the Universe. N.p., n.d
Web. 06 Feb. 2017.

2) Freestarcharts.com. "Andromeda - Constellation Guide."Home. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Feb.

3) Admin. "Admin." Messier Objects. N.p., 28 Apr. 2015. Web. 15 Apr. 2017.
<http://www.messier-objects.com/messier-31-andromeda-galaxy/>.

4) Admin. "Admin."Messier Objects. N.p., 28 Apr. 2015. Web. 19 Mar. 2017.

5) "List of stars in Andromeda."Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 29 Mar. 2017. Web. 01

6) Peters, Stephanie True. Andromeda. New York: PowerKids Press, 2003. Print.

7) Andromedia: Galaxy, Mythology, Constellation - Crystalinks. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Apr.

8) "Andromeda (constellation)." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 15 Apr. 2017. Web. 15

9) Germanic Astronomy. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Apr. 2017.