What is the Cassiopeia?

Cassiopeia is a constellation, one of the 88 constellations that the night sky is divided into. The sky is not divided up equally between the constellations. Cassiopeia takes up 598.407 sq. degrees of the night sky which equate to 1.45% of the night sky. The constellation gets its name as it name means Queen of Ethiopia. The constellation is one of the original constellations that was devised by the Ancient Greco-Egyptian astronomer Ptolemy who lived between 90 A.D. and 168 A.D. The constellation is in a circumpolar position, i.e. it revolves around the pole star, Polaris, and being so close to the pole, its position appears to change dramatically throughout the night. The five brightest stars trace the shape of a slightly distorted M, known as the Celestial M, when above the pole, and a W, known as CelestialW, when below the pole when Cassiopeia is in an upside-down position.

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