The Andromeda constellation, listed by a Roman, Greco Egyptian mathematician and astronomer Claudius Ptolemy (Delev, 2009.) houses 16 main stars, multiple other stars and 3 messier (M#) objects – M31, M32 and M110. Other objects which are in the constellation are several NGC objects.
Is one of the original 48 constellations formulated by Ptolemy from his 2nd century Almagest which defined a pattern of stars? Arab included their own version of the constellation, which is shown as a fish at Andromeda’s feet. Multiple other variations of the constellation were made but fell into disuse.
International Astronomical Union (IAU) recognised Andromeda originally formulated by Ptolemy and given the abbreviated name of “And”. In 1930 Belgian astronomer Eugène Delporte defined the boundaries of Andromeda with 36 segments. The Right Ascension (RA) is between 22h 57.5m and 2h 39.3m and the Declination (Dec) between 53.19° and 21.68° using the Equatorial Coordinate System (ECS)
The Andromeda Galaxy (M31) is the main Messier object in the constellation, with M32 and M110 being satellite galaxies situated near M31. Both M32 and M110 are classed as elliptical galaxies. (Bakich, 1995.) Andromeda galaxy is one of the few galaxies that the naked eye can see in the correct conditions with it being 2.2-2.5Mly from the earth.
M31 (and its satellites) are some of the only objects moving towards us and thus are blue shifted. In approximately 5 Ga (5 billion years) will collide and merge with our galaxy. (Schiavi et al., 2020) but it is unknown if the satellite galaxies of M31 will collide or just be an observer.
Mythology
Claudius Ptolemy, the 2nd-century Greco-Roman astronomer, listed 48 constellations and one of the 88 modern ones. The Greek myth says that it is named after Andromeda, the daughter of Cassiopeia, who was chained to a rock to be eaten by a sea monster.
During autumn evenings in the Northern Hemisphere, Andromeda is most prominent. And Andromeda is only visible north of 40 degrees south latitude because of its northern declination. It has an area of 722 square degrees.
"The Chained Lady" or "the Chained Woman" are named for Andromeda, translating to Mulier Catenata in Latin and al-Mar'at al Musalsalah in Arabic.
Cassiopeia (queen of Ethiopia) boasted about the beauty of her daughter, so much so that it was mentioned she was more beautiful than Nereids which offended nereids, petitioning Poseidon to punish Cassiopeia for her arrogance. This led to the attack on Ethiopia. Cepheus, the father of Andromeda, attempted to sacrifice Andromeda to save his kingdom by the advice of the Oracle of Ammon chaining her to a rock close to the sea but was saved by Perseus. Perseus, depending on which side of the story you read, either used the head of Medusa to turn the monster into stone or used his diamond sword to slew the monster.
Perseus and Andromeda then married in which Andromeda birthed supposedly nine children, Seven sons and Two Daughters. After Andromeda’s death, Athena, the goddess of wisdom, handicraft, and warfare, honoured her by placing her in the sky as a constellation.
Listed Objects
And Andromeda Constellation sits far away from the galactic plane, so has no nebula from our Milky Way.
Listed messier objects;
M31 – Andromeda galaxy
M32 – satellite galaxy (NGC 221)
M110 – Satellite galaxy (NGC 205)
Listed NGC objects;
NGC 891 (Caldwell 23) (smaller galaxy)
NGC 752 (Caldwell 28) (open cluster)
NGC 7686 (open cluster)
NGC 7662 (planetary nebula)
Is one of the original 48 constellations formulated by Ptolemy from his 2nd century Almagest which defined a pattern of stars? Arab included their own version of the constellation, which is shown as a fish at Andromeda’s feet. Multiple other variations of the constellation were made but fell into disuse.
International Astronomical Union (IAU) recognised Andromeda originally formulated by Ptolemy and given the abbreviated name of “And”. In 1930 Belgian astronomer Eugène Delporte defined the boundaries of Andromeda with 36 segments. The Right Ascension (RA) is between 22h 57.5m and 2h 39.3m and the Declination (Dec) between 53.19° and 21.68° using the Equatorial Coordinate System (ECS)
The Andromeda Galaxy (M31) is the main Messier object in the constellation, with M32 and M110 being satellite galaxies situated near M31. Both M32 and M110 are classed as elliptical galaxies. (Bakich, 1995.) Andromeda galaxy is one of the few galaxies that the naked eye can see in the correct conditions with it being 2.2-2.5Mly from the earth.
M31 (and its satellites) are some of the only objects moving towards us and thus are blue shifted. In approximately 5 Ga (5 billion years) will collide and merge with our galaxy. (Schiavi et al., 2020) but it is unknown if the satellite galaxies of M31 will collide or just be an observer.
Mythology
Claudius Ptolemy, the 2nd-century Greco-Roman astronomer, listed 48 constellations and one of the 88 modern ones. The Greek myth says that it is named after Andromeda, the daughter of Cassiopeia, who was chained to a rock to be eaten by a sea monster.
During autumn evenings in the Northern Hemisphere, Andromeda is most prominent. And Andromeda is only visible north of 40 degrees south latitude because of its northern declination. It has an area of 722 square degrees.
"The Chained Lady" or "the Chained Woman" are named for Andromeda, translating to Mulier Catenata in Latin and al-Mar'at al Musalsalah in Arabic.
Cassiopeia (queen of Ethiopia) boasted about the beauty of her daughter, so much so that it was mentioned she was more beautiful than Nereids which offended nereids, petitioning Poseidon to punish Cassiopeia for her arrogance. This led to the attack on Ethiopia. Cepheus, the father of Andromeda, attempted to sacrifice Andromeda to save his kingdom by the advice of the Oracle of Ammon chaining her to a rock close to the sea but was saved by Perseus. Perseus, depending on which side of the story you read, either used the head of Medusa to turn the monster into stone or used his diamond sword to slew the monster.
Perseus and Andromeda then married in which Andromeda birthed supposedly nine children, Seven sons and Two Daughters. After Andromeda’s death, Athena, the goddess of wisdom, handicraft, and warfare, honoured her by placing her in the sky as a constellation.
Listed Objects
And Andromeda Constellation sits far away from the galactic plane, so has no nebula from our Milky Way.
Listed messier objects;
M31 – Andromeda galaxy
M32 – satellite galaxy (NGC 221)
M110 – Satellite galaxy (NGC 205)
Listed NGC objects;
NGC 891 (Caldwell 23) (smaller galaxy)
NGC 752 (Caldwell 28) (open cluster)
NGC 7686 (open cluster)
NGC 7662 (planetary nebula)
By IAU and Sky & Telescope magazine (Roger Sinnott & Rick Fienberg)
Zotti, G., Hoffmann, S. M., Wolf, A., Chéreau, F., & Chéreau, G. (2021). The Simulated Sky: Stellarium for Cultural Astronomy Research. Journal of Skyscape Archaeology, 6(2), 221–258. https://doi.org/10.1558/jsa.17822
Bordering Constellations
Andromeda borders with the following constellations.
Andromeda borders with the following constellations.
- Perseus
- Cassiopeia
- Lacerta
- Pegasus
- Pisces
- Triangulum
M31 with its satellite galaxies M32 and M110
The location of andromeda constellation - 23h 25m 48.6945s 02h 39m 32.5149s
M31 - 00hr 42' 44" 41º 16' 08"
M32 - 00hr 42' 42" 40º 51' 57"
M110 - 00hr 40' 22" 41º 41' 07"
NGC 891 - 02hr 22' 33" 42º 20' 50"
NGC 752 - 01hr 57' 35" 37º 50' 00"
NGC 7662 - 23hr 25' 54" 42º 32' 08"
NGC 7686 - 23hr 30' 07" 49º 08' 03"
M31 - 00hr 42' 44" 41º 16' 08"
M32 - 00hr 42' 42" 40º 51' 57"
M110 - 00hr 40' 22" 41º 41' 07"
NGC 891 - 02hr 22' 33" 42º 20' 50"
NGC 752 - 01hr 57' 35" 37º 50' 00"
NGC 7662 - 23hr 25' 54" 42º 32' 08"
NGC 7686 - 23hr 30' 07" 49º 08' 03"