3 - Astronomy & Astrology: Space, Stars and Indians

CONSTELLATIONS

SUMMER SKY (June-August)

Virgo (Kanya/Kanni)

Genitive: Virginis (Vir)

Symbol

The Greek and Romans associated Virgo (Latin for Virgin) with agriculture, specially wheat. Virgo lies to the east of Leo and north of Corvus and Hydra. Rich in stars and galaxies, the constellation has 28 stars with planets, besides a few black holes. 34 planets have been identified so far. In the Middle Ages the constellation was believed to have represented Virgin Mary. The ‘virgin’ is linked to more than one Greek divinity. Virgo represents, according to one Greek story, the famous Greek character Erigone, who committed suicide on finding her father Icarius dead. She was elevated to the skies by gods later. In diagrams and painting she is shown to hold a rod in her right hand and an ‘ear of wheat’ in her left hand.

In India, Kanya is Kumari, one of the seven divine mothers (saptamatas). The temple at Kanyakumari, southern tip of Indian mainland, (Cape Comorin) is believed to be dedicated to this goddess. The seven goddesses were created by Shiva, one of the Hindu trinity, to accompany his son Kartikeya who was entrusted with the task of killing a demon called Narakasur, son of Bhumi Devi. Ganesha, another son and Kaali, daughter of Shiva, also accompanied Kartikeya. The seven goddesses, Ganesha and Kaali are symbolically placed as ritual stones on the southern side of the sanctum sanctorums of temples of Kerala to indicate the deities in the sanctum sanctorums are not upa-devtas (sub-deity).

The autumnal equinox of September 21-23 falls now in Virgo.

The traditional asterisms here for Indians are Uttara Phalguni/Uthram (3/4) , Hasta/Atham and Chitra/Chithira (1/2).

The following stars need to be seen to find out the actual nakshatras in Virgo:

1. Alpha Virginis or α Virginis (α Vir/Spica/260 LY)
2. Beta Virginis or β Virginis (β Vir or Zavijava/35 LY)
3. Gamma Virginis or γ Virginis (γ Vir/Porrima or Antevorta/39 LY)
4. Iota Virigins or ɩ Virigins (ɩ Vir/Syrma or Symra /70 LY):

Bootes or Bootis

Genitive: Boötis (Boo)


Bootes (pron. boh-oh-teez, Greek), lying north of Virgo, is the ‘ox-driver’ or ‘herdsman’. A related

Symbol

word Boo in Latin means ‘cow’. The asterism Big Dipper or Plough (Saptarshis) was seen as a bullock-cart by the Greek. There are a few stories connecting Bootes with different characters in

Greek mythology. The herdsman drives, not cattle, but bears Ursa Major (Great Bear) and Ursa Minor (Little Bear). Bootes has 10 stars with planets and two bright galaxies. Besides, there are a number of double stars, Izar (Pulcherrima, ‘the beauty’) being the most talked about. Bootes is not a solar zodiac as it is not located on the Sun’s imaginary path.

The constellation was saint Sylvester for early Catholics.

This is not a traditional constellation of Indians, but part of it could have been fallen within the area of Swati/Chothi lunar mansion. we shall see a star here:

Alpha Bootes or α Bootes (α Boo/Arcturus /37 LY)

Libra (Tula/Thulam)

Genitive: Librae (Lib)

Symbol

Libra, below the foot of Virgo, is Latin for weighing scales (the Balance). It is a faint constellation, but has many double star systems and there are at least 3 stars with planets. One star – Gliese 581, found in 2007, has a planetary system with 6 planets. Scientists are speculating if these 6 planets can sustain life. In Roman’s mythology, the scales belong to Virgo, the goddess of justice. It was the Scorpion’s claws for ancient Greeks.

In Indian mythology, Brihaspati, the guru of the divine world and Vāyu, the wind god are associated with Libra (Tula/Thulam). Shukra, the guru of the demons, is also identified with it. The autumnal equinox used to be in Libra about September  21-23. Now it is in Virgo due to the precession of the Earth.

There are three asterisms here: Chithra/Chithira (1/2), Swati/Chothi and Vishakha/Vishakham (3/4).

1. Alpha Librae or α Librae (α Lib/Zubenalgenubi/ 75 LY)
2. Beta Librae or β Librae (β Lib/Zubeneschamali/160 LY)
3. Sigma Librae or σ Librae (σ Lib/Zubenelakrab/163 LY)
4. Iota Librae or ɩ Librae (ɩ Lib/379 LY)

Scorpius (Vrishchika/Vrishchikam)

Genitive: Scorpii (Sco)

Symbol

Scorpius (Scorpion) has a number of stars connected with Indian lunar mansions. It lies east of Libra and south of Ophiuchus. The area covered in the sky by Scorpius was much larger but the revision in 19^th century took away some of its stars. There are 14 planetary systems and 4 deep sky objects (DSO) in this constellation.

As usual there is more than one version about the Scorpion’s ascension in Greek stories. On divine orders it kills Orion, the hunter who took excessive pride in himself and wanted to kill all the animals. The Scorpion is rewarded with a place in the sky. Orion too is elevated to the sky later.

There seems to be nothing in Indian puranas or scriptures about this constellation though it has three stars/asterisms of note -  Vishakha/Vishakham (1/4), Anuradha/Anizham and  Jyeshtha/Ketta.

1. Beta Scorpii or β Scorpii (β Sco/Graffias or Akrab/530 LY)
2. Delta Scorpii or δ Scorpii (δ Sco/Dschubba/400 LY)
3. Pi Scorpii or π Scorpii (π Sco/Iclil/520 LY)
4. Alpha Scorpii or α Scorpii (α Sco/Antares or Qalb Al Aqrab/600 LY)
5. Sigma Scorpii or σ Scorpii (σ Sco/Alniyat/735 LY)
6. Epsilon Scorpii or ε Scorpii (ε Sco/64 LY)
7. Mu Scorpii or μ Scorpii (μ Sco/820 LY)
8. Zeta-1 Scorpii or ζ-1 Scorpii (ζ¹Sco/2600 LY)
9. Eta Scorpii or η Scorpii (η Sco/72 LY)
10. Theta Scorpii or θ Scorpii (θ Sco/Sargas or Girtab/272 LY)
11. Iota-1 Scorpii or ɩ¹ Scorpii (ɩ¹ Sco/1800 LY)
12. Kappa Scorpii or κ Scorpii (κ Sco/483 LY)
13. Lambda Scorpii or λ Scorpii (λ Sco/Shaula/360 LY)
14. Upsilon Scorpii or ν Scorpii (ν Sco/Lesath/575 LY)

Ophiucus

Gentitive: Ophiuchi (Oph)

Symbol

Ophiuchus in Greek mythology is the ‘serpent-bearer’, charted in Ptolemy’s map of original 48 constellations. Earlier it was called Serpentarius, which has the same meaning. It lies to the north-east of Scorpius. Ophis in Greek means serpent. The constellation appears on the Celestial Equator and has a number of distant galaxies. There are two black holes which, astronomers believe, may merge in a billion years from now. Thirteen stars with planetary systems have been identified. The brightest star is Ras Al Hague (α Oph). It is on the ear o Ophiucus in the diagram below.

Astronomers are pushing to include Ophiuchus as the 13^th zodiac since the Sun is in this constellation from November 29 to December 17. But there is no move by the IAU to declare it a solar zodiac.

Greek god Zeus killed Asclepius (Aesculapius), the Greek god of medicine, for trying to develop a herbal mix that would make man immortal. He was honoured when Zeus decided to keep his image in the heavens. An ancient sculpture of him has a single serpent coiling about a staff he holds. The staff with serpent he holds is being used as the symbol of medicine, according to one theory. Arabs named the constellation Al-hava, the snake charmer.

Ophiuchus, the 13^th zodiac, does not have an Indian version. Nor are there any traditional asterisms, though we must see if the traditional view is right.

The stars here for Indians are:

1. Theta Ophiuchus or θ Ophiuchus (θ Oph/436 LY)
2. Epsilon Ophiuchus or ε Ophiuchus (ε Oph/Yed Posterior/106 LY)

Sagittarius (Dhanu or Dhanwee/Dhanu)

Genitive: Sagittarii (Sgr)

Symbol

Sagittarius lies east of Scorpius.

It is a Latin word meaning ‘archer’. The belief that the archer is the Greek character Cheron, accidentally shot by Hercules by a poison arrow and got elevated to the heavens is wrong. Cheron belonged to a ruffian community called centaurs. A centaur was half man-half horse with four legs. Cheron was a wise and honest person. The actual archer, historians say, was Crotus, a musician and hunter belonging to another violent community, the satyrs. A satyr was a two-legged creature, half man and half goat. It could be an import from Sumerian mythology which has a character called Nergal. How Crotus, as honest as Cheron, became a constellation is a mystery. The Cheron story explains it; Zeus placed him in the sky to placate a repentant Hercules. Crotus is believed to have invented bow and arrow for the Greek. His arrow points to the heart of the Milky Way and the heart of the Scorpius.

In Indian mythology, there is no archer. The asterism is a simple bow (Dhanu or Dhanwee or Dhanush in Sanskrit and Malayalam).

For modern astronomers, it is a teapot (kettle).

Sagittarius has many deep sky objects and stars, besides 28 stars with planetary systems.

The traditional nakshatras in Sagittarius are Moola/Moolam, Poorva Ashadha/Pooradom and Uttara Ashadha/Uthradom (1/4).

The stars that we shall see are:

Epsilon Sagittarii or ε Sagittarii (ε Sgr/Kaus Australis/145 LY)

Delta Sagittarii or δ Sagittarii (δ Sgr/Kaus Media/347 LY)
Zeta Sagittarii or ζ Sagittarii (ζ Sgr/Ascella/89 LY)

Sigma Sagittarii or σ Sagittarii (σ Sgr/Nunki /228 LY)

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AUTUMN SKY (Sep-Nov)

Capricornus (Shishumara or Makara/Makaram)

Genitive: Capricorni (Cap)

Symbol

Capricornus lies to the east of Sagittarius in area referred to as ‘sea’. The Latin term Capricornus or Capricorn means Sea Goat or Goat Fish or ‘horned goat’. The goat here could be Ibex, an animal that survives well in the desert environments of North Africa, West Asia and the Middle East. The horned goat with the body of a fish was originally a larger constellation. Part of it was taken form Aquarius by the ancient astronomers. The strange goat-fish cannot be well-identified in the sky because it is not only small and second faintest after Cancer but also because the pattern of the stars does not create the shape of goat-fish. The shape, however, still resembles a goat.

The southernmost point where the Sun can be directly overhead is approximately 23⁰ 26’ south of the equator (End point of Dakshinaayana). A circle drawn on the globe at this distance is Tropic of Capricorn. For convenience, you take 1⁰ as 110 km for latitudes. Then, this imaginary circular line on the globe is about 2600 km south of the equator.

The constellation was known to Sumerians and Babylonians even 5000 years ago. The Greek called it Pan, their forest deity (vandevta). Pan blew his conch shell to drive off Titans when they came to attack the gods. Such acts earned him respect of the Greek deities. On another occasion he jumped in to the Nile for evading a monster and turned the lower part of his body in to a fish. Zeus, the main god of the Greeks, granted him a place in the sky for his services.

There are 5 stars with planetary systems in this constellation. Besides, there are other stars and galaxies; some as deep as 30,000 LY away from us.

For Indians, this constellation is half stag (deer) and half crocodile (or sea dragon) called Makara, the vehicle of Goddess Ganga and ‘water god’ Varuna. Makara is also considered to be an elephant or a dugong, an aquatic animal. Perhaps, it might have been some prehistoric animal. Sculptures of makara resemble Indian fresh water dolphin (porpoise). It is depicted as a monster fish in puranas of Hinduism (e.g. Bhagavatha Purana). Lord Vishnu’s ear ornament is called Makara. The constellation as such is not linked to any Hindu deity.

The Sun moves in to Capricorn from Sagittarius on December 23. This is the Makar Sankranti day of the Hindus. But without taking in to account the wobble of the Earth, it is being celebrated on the old date - January 14. From here the Sun appears to move northward which is called Uttarāyana by Hindus. On June 22, it appears to reach the Tropic of Cancer in the northern hemisphere. The Sun then appears to move southward (Dakshināyana) and on March 21 and September 21 it passes above the Earth’s equator when day and night will be of equal length.

Uttara Ashadha/Uthradam (3/4)  and Shravana/Thiruvonam are the traditional stars. Dhanishta/Avittam (1/2) too appears here partially. The opinions may vary. Some traditionalists include stars from Aquila and Delphinus constellations under Capricornus.

The stars we will deal with will be:

Alpha-1 Capricorni or α¹ Capricorni (α¹ Cap/Algedi or Algiedi or Giedi Prima/690 LY)

Beta Capricorni or β Capricorni (β Cap/Dabih or Dahib/340 LY)

Delta Capricornii or δ Capricorni (δ Cap/Deneb Algedi/39 LY)

Zeta Capricorni or ζ Capricorni (ζ Cap/Marakk/122 LY)

Gamma Capricorni or γ Capricorni (γ Cap/Nashira or Scheddi/139 LY)

Aquila (Garuda/Garudan or Parunth)

Genitive: Aquilae (Aql)

Symbol

Aquila, ‘the flying eagle’ is the carrier of thunderbolts in Greek mythology. There are nearly a dozen prominent and stars 9 of which have planetary systems. It lies north of Sagittarius and north-west of Capricorn.

Three stars in Aquila form the traditional Shravana/Thiruvonam. Shravana means ‘ear’ in Sanskrit. The term Shraavana is the genitive/adjective of Shravana. The month when full Moon appears near the star-trio also is called Shraavana. Indians depicted this lunar mansion as ear in diagrams. The three stars are believed to be the three footsteps that took Vamana, an incarnation of the Hindu deity Vishnu, to the heavens.

Aquila has a few deep clusters/nebulae. On the tail of the Eagle is Lambda Aquilae, a star that was to have a ‘peeping tom’ from the Earth – Pioneer 11, launched by NASA on April 6, 1973. It is a space craft planned to go beyond the solar system and fly past Lambda Aquilae. Having lost communication on November 30, 1995, the project seems to have been wound up. If it had flown according to ‘plans’,  news reports say, Pioneer 11 would have taken 4 billion years to reach near Lambda Aquilae. Unfortunately it is ‘silent’ now. It must be wandering in the deep space.

The traditional star Shravana/Thiruvonam is actually from Aquila, which is not a member of the solar zodiac because the Sun does not pass through it.

Alpha Aquilae or α Aquilae (α Aql/Altair/17 LY)

Beta Aquilae or β Aquilae (β Aql/Alshain/45 LY)

Gamma Aquilae or γ Aquilae (γ Aql/Tarazed/395 LY)

Delphinus

Genitive: Delphini (Del)

Symbol

Delphinus, a Latin name, means Dolphin. It lies to the east of Aquila. This constellation too is not on the Ecliptic and hence the Sun does not pass through it.

Poseidon is the Greek sea god. A nymph by name Amphitrite rejected Poseidon’s advances but she was ultimately won over by the deft handling of the matter by a sea dolphin that did the errand for the sea god. Poseidon repaid the creature with a place in the sky. In another Greek story, Arion, a poet and musician, was saved by a dolphin as he jumped in to sea for escaping from the crew of the ship he was travelling in. Apollo, the Greek god of poetry and music, rewarded the dolphin with a place in the heavens.

Since the four stars (alpha, beta, gamma and delta) in the constellation form a long box, it is also called Job’s Coffin.

Niccolo Cacciatore was an Italian astronomer, who was assistant to another Italian astronomer and director of the Palermo Observatory Giuseppe Piazzi in the beginning of 19th century. The Latinized version of his name is Nicolaus Venator. Nicolaus, read from right to left is Sualocin. This name was given to the alpha star of Delphinus. Venator, spelled backwards, is Rotanev. The beta star was given the name Rotanev. Our star/asterism here is Dhanishtha/Avittam which is also called Vasu, a vedic deity, in Sanskrit. A set of solar deities called Ashtavasus (eight Vasus) is also linked to it. Dhanishtha (wealthy) is also called Sravishtha (famous or most favourable). The star is also connected with Vasudeva/Nandagopa and Yashoda of Bhagavatha Purana. The Indian symbol for the asterism is Drum or Tabor (Tanbur in Arabic; Tambour in English; Thambér in Malayalam).

The Greek term delphus means womb; in Sanskrit it is Hiranyagarbha (golden womb). In vedic cosmology, it was from Hiranyagarbha that the universe evolved. However, the name in Sanskrit does not refer to this constellation.

The Arabic name for Delphinus is Al Ka’ud.

On August 14, 2013 a nova (star explosion) was discovered in Delphinus by a Japanese astromer¹. It is yet to have an official name. ‘Before erupting, the nova was apparently a dull magnitude +17 star on the scale used by astronomers to measure the brightness of night sky objects, in which higher numbers denote dimmer objects. The threshold of what the human eye can see is about magnitude +6.5’.

There are no traditional stars but we shall see the following stars housed here:

Alpha Delphini or α Delphini (α Del/Sualocin/240 LY)

Beta Delphini or β Delphini (β Del/Rotanev/97 LY)

Gamma Delphini or γ Delphini (γ Delphini/104 LY)

Delta Delphini or δ Del (δ Del/203 LY)

Aquarius (Kumbha/Kumbham)

Genitive: Aquarii (Aqr)

Symbol

The constellation lies to the east of Aquila, the eagle and Capricornus.

Aquarius means ‘water-carrier’ in Latin. In Egypt and Babylonia this was associated with flood. In Greek mythology, Deucalion, the son of Prometheus, survived on a ship for nine days with his wife Pyrrah in flood waters and landed on Mount Parnassus. Rest of the mankind died in the deluge. This story, to a certain extent, reminds one of Noah from the Bible and Matsyavatara of Hinduism. For the Greek, this is also the handsome youth Ganymede who was taken to Mount Olympus by Zeus to act as a cup-carrier.

Whoever be the youth, he is shown carrying an amphora (wine jar with two handles) water-pitcher or Water pot (Kumbha/Kumbham). The stars on the pot are treated as Kumbha(m) asterism by Indians.

“New Testament Christians of the 16th and 17th centuries likened it appropriately enough to John the Baptist and to Judas Thaddaeus the Apostle, although some went back to Naaman in the waters of Jordan, and even to Moses taken out of the water²”.

Aquarius has 11 stars with planetary systems. There are many star clusters and galaxies too. Its brightest star Sadalsuud is over 5,250 times brighter than our Sun.

The top two stars of Aquarius – Alpha Aquarii (Sadalmelik) and Beta Aquarii (Sadalsuud or Sa’ad al Su’ud) are not considered in Indian astrology. Sadalsuud is known in Sanskrit as Kalpani (an instrument to cut, knife, a pair of scissors).

Dhanishtha/Avittam (1/2), Shatabhishaj/Chathayam, Purva Bhadrapada/Pooruruttathi(1/4) are the nakshatras in Aquarius.

The following stars will be of interest to us:

Zeta Aquarii or ζ Aquarii (ζ Aqr/Altager/103 LY)

Pi Aquarius or π Aquarius (π Aqr/ Wasat al Achbiya/780 LY)

Eta Aquarii or η Aquarii (η Aqr/Hydria /170 LY)

Xi Aquarii or ξ Aquarii (ξ Aqr/Bunda/178 LY)

Gamma Aquarii or γ Aquarii (γ Aqr/Sadalachbia or Sadachbia /165 LY)

Phi Aquarii or ϕ Aquarii (ϕ Aqr/202 LY)

Lambda Aquarii or λ Aquarii (λ Aqr/Hydor/370 LY)

Pisces Austrinus (Southern Fish)

Genitive: Piscis Austrini (PsA)

Symbol

Piscis Austrinus (Great Fish for the Greek), a tiny constellation where at least 3 stars have planetary systems lies ‘at the foot’ of the water-bearer Aquarius, ‘drinking the water that flows from his amphora’. Obviously the name Piscis Austrinus (Pisces Australis) is Latin and means ‘southern fish’. It was included in the ancient list of 48 constellations and finds a place in the modern list of 88 constellations too.

The Great Fish is the mother of the fish pair that is called the Pisces (Meena/Meenam) constellation. She found a place in the sky thanks to Isis whose life was saved by the fish.

This is not a traditional constellation for Indians. Nor is it a member of the solar zodiac as the Sun does not pass through it.

The alpha star is Fomalhaut, the brightest in the constellation and it is the one that we  will be looking at [Alpha Piscis Austrini or α Piscis Austrini (α PsA/Fomalhaut/25 LY)].

Pegasus

Genitive: Pegasi (Peg)

Symbol

Pegasus lies north of Aquarius. It is not a solar zodiac. 

Greek mythology says the winged horse Pegasus born to Neptune and Medusa had magical powers and caused a spring to flow out of one of its hoof-marks. Whoever drank the water from it was blessed with the ability to write poems. Pegasus became the carrier of Bellerophon and took him to Mount Olympus, the abode of Greek gods. Zeus did not want Bellerophon among the divine beings. He threw an insect to sting them and Pegasus had to drop his rider. Thereafter he ascended to the sky as the carrier of lightning and thunder.

Three stars from Pegasus and one from Andromeda form a square. Indians called it the bedstead or couch of the Moon. Another version is that the Indians called one of the stars Proshthapada (Proshtha = ox) because of the constellation’s resemblance to an ox. (See Alpha Pegasi in the following articles). It is clear that the constellation looked like an animal to all the ancient astronomers/astrologers in different parts of the globe. Still, the Indian connection is vague.

Pegasus has about 12 planetary systems. The first such discovery was in 1995 when a planet (now known as Bellerophon) was discovered near the star 51 Pegasus. This star shows Sun-like characteristics.

The constellation has over half a dozen popular stars like Markab, Algenib, Scheat, Enif etc. In addition, there is a super massive black hole. There are galaxies too, two of which have already crashed in to each other. It also houses Einstein’s Cross, a quasar, 8 billion Light Years away.

Purva Bhadrapada/Pooruruttathi and Uttara Bhadrapada/Uthrittadi are from Pegasus, the latter having only partial representation.

The stars for us in this constellation are:

Alpha Pegasi or α Pegasi (α Peg/Markab/140 LY)

Beta Pegasi or β Pegasi (β Peg/Scheat/ 200 LY)

Gamma Pegasi or γ Pegasi (γ Peg/Algenib/333 LY)

Pisces (Meena/Meenam)

Genitive: Piscium (Psc)

Symbol

 Pronounced ‘p-eye-cees’, Pisces is Latin plural for fish. It lies east of Aquarius. In the images created by artists, there are two fish connected together by a ribbon. In Greek mythology, goddess Aphrodite and her son turned themselves in to fish to escape the monster Typhon. They tied their tails to prevent separation. For the Romans, the characters were Venus and Cupid.

The vernal equinox (March 21) is in Pisces. The brightest star is Van Maanen’s star (η Piscium).

There are a few distant galaxies and a large black hole here. There was a red super-giant too which exploded to become a supernova. 13 planetary systems around stars have been discovered in Pisces.

The traditional astrology has only three nakshatras viz, Poorva Bhadrapada (4/3), Uttara Bhadrapada and Revathi, in Pisces and they are linked with the four stars  below:

Lambda Piscium or λ Piscium (λ Psc/100 LY)

Delta Piscium or δ Piscium (δ Psc/311 LY)

Epsilon Piscium or ε Piscium (ε Psc/182 LY)

Zeta Piscium or ζ Piscium (ζ Psc /146-200 LY

Andromeda or PERSEA or Devyani

Genitive: Andromedae (And)

Symbol

Andromeda lies just north of Aries, far off the Ecliptic. It is not a solar zodiac.

Though the stars in the constellation caught the attention of ancient Indians it did not have an Indian name. The word ‘Devyani’ does not appear in any of the old texts or Siddhaantas. It is probably a name given by some astrologers much later.

The Greek story is that Andromeda was the daughter of Ethiopian king Cepheus and Cassiopeia. The queen considered herself to be the most beautiful being in the Universe. She claimed to be more beautiful than the Nereids, the fifty sea nymphs and goddesses of the sea. The nymphs, patrons of sailors and fishermen, complained about the queen to their father Nereus, a sea god whom Homer called ‘The Old Man of The Sea’. Another version says they complained to Poseidon, a sea god, who sent the sea monster Cetus to flood and destroy Ethiopia. The Oracle of Ammon advised the king to sacrifice his daughter to Cetus to save his country. Andromeda was accordingly left alone chained to a rock. But Perseus, son of Zeus, saved her and married her. Thus the constellation got the name Persea, wife of Perseus. Greek goddess Athena honoured her by giving a place in the sky, near Perseus, Cassiopeia and Cetus.

The major attraction in Andromeda constellation is a galaxy, not connected with any stars of Andromeda, but can be seen through the constellation – the Andromeda galaxy or M31 which lies 2.5 million light years away from Earth but is the nearest galaxy of our Milky Way. This also happens to be the nemesis of our Milky Way. Because of strong forces of attraction our galaxy will collide with Andromeda galaxy in about 4 billion years from now.

Andromeda constellation has a star – Upsilon Andromeda- orbited by 4 planets. It is a binary star nearly 4 times brighter than the Sun. The brightest star is Alpha Andromeda (or Alpheratz). This is one of the stars that make up the Great Square of Pegasus.

The brightest star is the only that we are concerned with:

Alpha Andromedae or α Andromedae (α And/Alpheratz or Sirah/97 LY).

1. http://www.space.com/22453-nova-delphinus-star-explosion-naked-eye.html
2.http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Topics/astronomy/_Texts/secondary/ALLSTA/Aquarius*.html

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Cont'd...Part 4