Cassiopeia and Cepheus form a celestial royal couple. In Greek mythology, Cepheus was the king of Aethiopia and Cassiopeia, mother of Andromeda, was his wife. Cepheus and Cassiopeia were placed next to each other among the stars, along with Andromeda. Cassiopeia was placed in the sky as a punishment after enraging Poseidon with the boast that her daughter Andromeda was more beautiful than the Nereids or, alternatively, that she herself was more beautiful than the sea nymphs.

Delta Cephei is the prototype for the Cepheid class of variable stars, its variation being easily observable with the naked eye. μ Cephei, also known as Herschel’s Garnet Star, is a red supergiant, probably the largest star visible to the naked eye, and one of the largest known.

Use the arrows under the photo to navigating between different versions of the image. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find the figure used by Hevelius in his famous atlas to add it next to Cassiopeia’s.

Date and place: February 26 2017; Kilan, Norway

Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark III

Lens: Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L at 40mm with a Kenko Softon diffusing filter

Exposure: 6 x 180s

Aperture: 4.5

ISO: 800

Mount: Fornax Mounts LighTrack II