There are two hero constellations in the celestial theater of the night sky. In the summer and early autumn, we have Hercules the Hero riding high in the heavens. Now that we’re in late fall, approaching winter, the constellation Perseus the Hero is on patrol. Similarly to Hercules, Perseus is one of the constellations that resembles what it’s supposed to be, assuming you throw in the imagination! In the early evening look in the high eastern sky. If your back is like mine, you can only look high in the heavens for so long before the pain starts setting in. Make life easier on yourself and sit back in a chair. Bring out a lawn chair and sit back and relax, bundled up, of course! Once you’re comfortable facing east and peering near the overhead zenith, look for a moderately bright formation of stars that roughly resembles a one-legged stickman. That’s our hero, Perseus. This star formation may also remind you of the scrawny Christmas tree that Charlie Brown presented to his pals in the classic Christmas special. According to Greek mythology, Perseus, the son of Zeus, the king of the gods of Mount Olympus, was sent on a mission to rid the land of Medusa, a hideous lady monster. How ugly? Let’s just say she fell out of the ugly tree and hit every stick on the way down! Medusa had a bad hair day every day because instead of strands of hair emerging from her head, she had dozens of protruding, greatly aggravated snakes. Medusa was so ugly that if you glanced her way for even a nanosecond, you immediately turned to a stone statue. As our snake-haired monster roamed the countryside, entire populations were getting permanently stoned in a very horrible way. Something had to be done. Perseus was sent to hunt down Medusa, cut off her snake-littered head, and return it for deposit in a local hazardous waste dump. Perseus was well-armed and prepared. Along with a razor-edged sword, he borrowed the winged shoes of Hermes, the messenger of the gods (his Roman name, Mercury), so he could fly to his target. Perseus was also equipped with the magic shield of Athena, the goddess of wisdom, so he wouldn’t have to look directly at snake-headed Medusa. I’m not sure just how Athena’s shield worked but somehow, it did the job. Armed with all his magic gear, Perseus flew up in pursuit of Medusa and, before too long, tracked her down. Trusting Athena’s shield to navigate him to Medusa’s neck precisely, he drew his sword and lopped off the monster’s despicably ugly cranium with one swing. Again, using Athena’s magic shield and super heavy-duty rubber gloves, he scooped up the head, avoiding snake bites, and tossed it into an industrial-strength hefty bag for the flight home. On his way back from his successful mission, he rescued Princess Andromeda from a hungry sea monster, but that’s a story for another day. (Mike Lynch) As you see in the diagram, the moderately bright star Algol, the second-brightest star in Perseus, marks the head of Medusa. Algol is referred to as the “Demon Star” for that reason, but also because every 2.8 days, it fades by 30%. It’s nothing sinister but certainly an oddity in the night sky. Astronomically, Algol is an eclipsing binary star. It’s two stars revolving around each other in a very tight orbit, one a little brighter than the other. Algol fades in brightness for a few hours when the dimmer star passes in front of the brighter star every 2.8 days. Maybe that’s a warning not to look at that demon star for too long, or you could get stoned! Recently, a third star has been discovered in the Algol system, but it doesn’t play that much of a part in the eclipsing process. An absolute must-see in Perseus’s constellation is the great Perseus Double Cluster, just above the hero’s head and not all that far away from neighboring Cassiopeia. If you’re lucky enough to stargaze in the countryside, you can see it with the naked eye as a misty patch among the stars. If you have to put up with a bit of light pollution, it’s still an excellent target with a pair of binoculars or a small telescope. I know you’ll love it. It’s a pair of huge open star clusters of about 100 young stars born from 3 million to 6 million years ago. Believe it or not that makes them stellar children. Our star, the sun, is in middle age at nearly 6 billion years old. Both clusters are out there at a distance of 7,000 light-years away, with just one light-year equaling about 6 trillion miles. Because they’re 7,000 light-years away, the light that we see from them now left those clusters right around 5000 B.C.! There’s another bright cluster of stars nearby in the constellation Taurus the Bull that I know you’ve seen. It’s the Pleiades, otherwise known as the Seven Little Sisters. It resembles a tiny Big Dipper. The Pleiades are much brighter than the Perseus Double Cluster because they’re much closer at just over 400 light-years. If you could magically reel in the Perseus Double Cluster from 7,000 light years to the distance of Pleiades, about a quarter of our night sky would be dominated by the twin Perseus clusters. It would be something to see! Mike Lynch is an amateur astronomer and retired broadcast meteorologist for WCCO Radio in Minneapolis/St. Paul. He is the author of “Stars: a Month by Month Tour of the Constellations,” published by Adventure Publications and available at bookstores and adventurepublications.net. Mike is available for private star parties. You can contact him at [email protected]. Related Articles Outdoors | Skywatch: Telescopic gift giving Outdoors | Skywatch: Go the distance with the Andromeda Galaxy Outdoors | Skywatch: November is a stargazer’s paradise Outdoors | Skywatch: Halloween heavens Outdoors | Skywatch: A great comet and a magnificent Milky Way