Between the Sky and the Heaven
Cassiopea
Cassiopea was arrogant. Although she was the Queen of Ethiopia and wife of Cepheus it did not help much against the power of Poseydon who could not stand her opinion that she and her daughter Andromeda were prettier than any of the Nereids. When the country was threatened to be flooded the life of innocent Andromeda had to be offered. A common situation among the humans :) Eventually Andromeda was saved by Perseus which is described in detail in the story of Andromeda and Perseus.
On May the 1st 2009 it was still a warm night and while the moonlight prevented me from searching for Deep Sky Objects I only wanted to capture a little piece of calm feeling from the starry night when I noted the low position of Cassiopea during late evening.
Nowadays it is Andromeda which captures more of the human attention for the presence of the Great (M31) Galaxy in Andromeda. Could mother forgive it her daughter? I doubt. Yet more experienced star gazers appreciate many interesting Deep Sky Objects in the Great "W" as the Cassiopea is seen on the firmament. This includes numerous open clusters, including two listed by Messier: M52 and 103 and a few faint galaxies. Cassiopea is a very convenient constellation for the stargazers from the northern hemisphere of the 50 degrees latitude where I am located.
Scorpius
It was Scorpius who killed Orion. It was however Artemis who should be blamed for giving the order. From the 50 degrees latitude only the eye (Antares) and sting of the Scorpius can be observed in the Summer.
On May the 3rd 2009 I had to wake up at half past two to take this picture from my balcony. Of the many beautiful DSO for which Scorpius is so well known only M4 was an easy target. However the warm beauty of the red Antares payed for the incovenience of the late waking up. It is really the Mars competitor (Anty-Ares). Some forecast it to explode soon as a "nova" or "super-nova" type star. As it is located only 700 light years away perhaps it could harm the life on the Earth. For the people living farer to the north than 50 degrees latitude this thread is not much serious. One of the very few advantages for living on the far North,
The Scorpius constellation is one of the wonders of the Heaven. It is located near the center of our Galaxy, Milky Way and is home of numerous beautiful Deep Sky Objects. We should however travel farer to the south to see most of them or even as far as to the Southern Hemisphere in March or April to appreciate them all in a full glory.
