Andromeda (constellation)

Andromeda is a constellation in the northern sky. It is named after the princess Andromeda in Greek mythology. It is sometimes called "Princess of Ethiopia" or "the Chained Woman" in English.Allen (1899) pp.32, 33. It has also been called Persea ("Perseus's wife") or Cepheis ("Cepheus's daughter").  The astronomer named Ptolemy listed Andromeda when he made a list of 48 constellations.  It is also one of the 88 constellations made by the International Astronomical Union.

The Andromeda Galaxy is inside Andromeda.  It is the closest spiral galaxy to Earth, at about 2.2 million light-years from Earth (estimates range up to 2.5 million light-years).  The brightest star in Andromeda is called Alpha Andromedae, which is a binary star.

References

Category:Constellations
Category:Constellations listed by Ptolemy
Category:Local galaxies