Cepheus is a constellation in the northern sky. Cepheus is a constellation in the northern sky. It is one of the 88 recognized constellations. It is the 27th most volumous constellation in the night sky with an area of 588 square degrees. Cepheus is best seen in November between the latitudes +90° and -10°. The RA of Cepheus is 22h and the Declination is +70°. The stars that make up the constellation Cepheus form a shape like a box with a triangle on top. Cepheus is bordered by the following constellations: Camelopardalis, Cassiopeia, Cygnus, Draco, Lacerta, and Ursa Minor. Within Cepheus’ borders, there are about 57 visible stars. The principal star of Cepheus is Alderamin and the brightest star is Kruger.
Cepheus is full of galaxies and nebulae. It also has ten star clusters however, most can not be seen with the naked eye, you must look through a telescope. Slightly south of Cepheus is a star that is considered the North Star in Mars. It is a red Cepheid and is one of the most colorful stars in the sky.
Cepheus is the name of two mythological kings. One was the son of Aleus, from Arcadia. He would become the king of Tega, would father many children and would sail with Jason as an Argonaunt. The other Cepheus was the son of Belus, the King of Egypt. This Cepheus grew to become the King of Ethopia. He then married Cassiopeia and they had a daughter Adromeda.
The following chart shows all of the stars in the constellation Cepheus. The information that can be found is the right ascension and declination, apparent magnitude, spectral class, absolute magnitude, and the distance from the earth in parsecs of each star.
IC1396 is a vast round nebula that sits at the north side of the Milky Way. During the fall season, it has a diameter of about 3°. IC 1396 is one of the largest emission nebula complexes in the night sky. The biggest star in the galaxy is mu Cephei (also called Herschel’s Garnet Star). It is a red supergiant with a diameter larger than the orbit of Saturn. It is one of the biggest stars known. It is 38,000 times brighter than the sun. This galaxy is a very red color with a magnitude of 2.5.
The Elephant’s Trunk nebula is a concentration of interstellar gas and dust located in the star cluster IC 1396. It is about 2,450 light years away from Earth. It is called the Elephant Trunk because of its appearance wavelengths where it is a dark patch with a bright, sinuous rim. The bright rim is at the surface of the dense cloud that is being illuminated and ionized by a very bright, massive star just to the west. The Elephant Trunk nebula is thought to be the site of star formation because it contains several very young stars. The combined action of light from the massive star ionizing and compressing the rim of the cloud, and the wind from the young stars shifting, has from the center outward lead to very high compression in the Elephant Trunk nebula. This pressure has triggered the current generation of protostars.
Alderamin is the brightest star in the constellation Cepheus. It is also a supergiant and is likely to become a red giant as its hydrogen supply runs low. Its name means “right arm” and refers to the arm of the king whom the constellation represents. Alderamin lies close to the processional path of the north celestial pole, so that is occasionally comes within 3° of being an exact pole star. It has a high rotational speed of 246 km/sec at the equator. Alderamin emits roughly the same amount of X-ray radiation as does the Sun.
Below is Alderamin plotted on the HR Diagram
http://www.daviddarling.info/images/Alfirk_X-ray.jpg
The second brightest star in the constellation Cepheus is Alfirk. It’s name comes from a phrase meaning “flock of sheep”. Alfrik is a giant B star. Alfrik’s chief period is 4.57 hours during which it varies in magnitude from 3.16 to 3.27 and back. Alfirk pulsates with many periods at once. This star is also a Be Star. This means that it sheds matter and has a magnetic field about 100 times stronger than Earth’s.
Below is Alfirk plotted on the HR Diagram
"Cepheus Constellation." Wikipedia. Web. 30 Nov 2009. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cepheus_(constellation)#Stars.
This site provided information on the constellation. The information was easially read.
"King Cepheus." Windows to the Universe. 2000. Web. 30 Nov 2009. .http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/the_universe/Constellations/circumpolar/cepheus.html&edu=high
This website provided information about how the constellation received its name. The website went into extensive detail but I was able to find the necessary information. Students might have trouble understanding all of the information.
"Cepheus." Astronomy Almanac. Web. 1 Dec 2009. http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/constellations/cepheus.htm.
This website provided pictures of Cepheus.The were lots of interesting pictures and they were very fun to look at.
"Cepheus." Constellation Chart. Web. 1 Dec 2009. .http://home.xtra.co.nz/hosts/Wingmakers/Cepheus.html
This site provided information on all of the stars in Cepheus. It provided information about the magnitude, spectral class etc. star.
"Catching the light." IC 1396. Web. 2 Dec 2009. http://www.astropix.com/HTML/E_SUM_N/IC1396.HTM.
This site provided ample information on the galaxy IC1396. It also provided pictures.
“Elephant’s Trunk Nebula.” Web. 2 Dec 2009. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elephant’s_Trunk_nubula.
This site provided information on the Elephant’s Trunk Nebula. It also provided pictures
"The Internet Encyclodedia of Science." Alderamin,Alfirk”. Web. 2 Dec 2009. http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/A/Alderamin.html.
This site provided information and pictures on the stars Alderamin and Alfirk.
James B. Kaler. The Hundred Greatest Stars. New York: Copernicus, 2002.
This book provided useful information of 100 of the greatest stars.
Constellation
Cepheus by Chyann Howard is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.