Cassiopeia is generally known as being the
W-shaped constellation in the northern hemisphere, between
Cepheus and
Perseus and near
Polaris. The constellation itself is said to be
Cassiopeia's Chair because it
resembles a chair. She is often times called "
heaven's troubled queen." Cassiopeia was a
Greek queen, wife of Cepheus, and at one time boasted that she was
more beautiful than even the sea nymphs. The nymphs in turn arranged it so that when the queen was
placed among the stars following her death, she would sit in a chair which turned upside-down around the
celestial north pole to teach her
humility.
In
1572, a new star appeared within the constellation, named
Tycho's Star after the
Danish astronomer
Tycho Brahe. The star
lived for only a year and a half, then
flashed out brighter than the planet
Venus in a
correlation of brilliant white, then red, then
died away.