Cepheus

They were with God in the pole up there.

So there's Cassiopeia and Cepheus.

And that's Adam and Eve.

That's the king and queen.

So Adam and Eve, they fell from on high.

It's the king and the queen.

Cepheus is the king.

Cassiopeia is the queen.

Not Cassiopeia, who made the boast.

Not Cepheus, the king.

Andromeda.

So her own father had her chained to the rocks beside the sea and left her there for the monster.

[mysterious music] If you've been following this series, you already know Andromeda's parents.

Her mother was Cassiopeia, whose ego could fill a coliseum.

Her father was Cepheus, king of Ethiopia, who had already demonstrated that decisive parenting was perhaps not his greatest strength.

Together, they made a series of decisions so catastrophically bad that the entire family eventually ended up in the sky.

The heavens above, and in this case very high above, host several noteworthy stars and constellations which we've highlighted this week.

Below the star Deneb, directly overhead at 10 minutes of 8:00 this evening, we outlined the king and queen yesterday, Cepheus and Cassiopeia by name, high in the north and northeast.

The queen is the brighter, easier to recognize of the two, and can be found by using the outer edge of the Big Dipper's bowl, extending that line almost straight up to find the North Star halfway up in the north, then continue on that line high in the northeast where the queen's zigzag or W-shaped pattern appears similar in brightness to the Big Dipper.

As the queen's throne tipping upside down, you'll see its tall back as an extension to the lower line on the W.

Almost directly below Deneb in the north, but quite high, look for a square of slightly brighter stars connected to a triangle of slightly brighter stars just below it.

It appears as an upside-down house or perhaps an ice cream cone, though this celestial figure represents King Cepheus, the square perhaps his head, and the triangle as his crown.

Now looking to his lower right, a W or zigzag pattern of stars marks his partner, the queen, Cassiopeia.

With some imagination, perhaps you can turn this into her throne, tipping upside down.

Mm-hmm

... an Ethiopian princess, and her mother, Cassiopeia, and her father, Cepheus, decided to marry her off to her uncle, and then bragged that she was so beautiful, more beautiful than the sea nymphs.

So Poseidon, in, uh, sh- like defense of his niece's, the sea nymph's, honor-

[laughs]

Hmm.

Yeah.

Because if you look at the, at the constellations map, we have all of the characters from this story: Andromeda, Perseus, Cassiopeia, Cepheus, and Cetus.

All of them-