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Constellation
Perseus
The shape: a sweeping arc of stars.
Perseus is the hero who defeated the terrible Medusa, whose gaze turned everything to stone. The star Algol, the “Demon Star”, is her head: every 2.9 days it grows fainter for a few hours because a companion star passes in front of it.
The stars of the figure
From bright to faint. Brightness is given in magnitudes (mag): the smaller the number, the brighter the star.
- Mirfak · 1.79 mag
- Algol · 2.1 mag
- ZetaPer · 2.85 mag
- EpsPer · 2.89 mag
- GammaPer · 2.91 mag
- DeltaPer · 3.01 mag
Shooting stars from the constellation Perseus
Perseids: these shooting stars seem to come from this part of the sky. More under Meteor showers.
In the 3D model
In the 3D model, under “Explore”, the sky dome shows when the constellation Perseus can be seen above Switzerland. “Constellations in 3D” shows how far apart its stars really are.
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