page_title: Perseus (constellation)
section_title: Features
hierarchical_section_title: Perseus (constellation) / Features
caption_attribution_description: English: Photography of the constellation Perseus Deutsch: Fotografie des Sternbildes Perseus Čeština: Fotografie souhvězdí Persea
context_page_description: Perseus is a constellation in the northern sky, being named after the Greek mythological hero Perseus. It is one of the 48 ancient constellations listed by the 2nd-century astronomer Ptolemy, and among the 88 modern constellations defined by the International Astronomical Union. It is located near several other constellations named after ancient Greek legends surrounding Perseus, including Andromeda to the west and Cassiopeia to the north. Perseus is also bordered by Aries and Taurus to the south, Auriga to the east, Camelopardalis to the north, and Triangulum to the west. Some star atlases during the early 19th century also depicted Perseus holding the disembodied head of Medusa, whose asterism was named together as Perseus et Caput Medusae; however, this never came into popular usage.
  The galactic plane of the Milky Way passes through Perseus, whose brightest star is the yellow-white supergiant Alpha Persei, which shines at magnitude 1.79. It and many of the surrounding stars are members of an open cluster known as the Alpha Persei Cluster. The best-known star, however, is Algol, linked with ominous legends because of its variability, which is noticeable to the naked eye.
caption: The constellation Perseus as it can be seen by the naked eye
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