Perseus the
Hero

Perseus is one of the oldest and well known mythological figures. He was rescued while a baby along with his mother by Jupiter from the sea and remained in his care. Perseus became a favorite of the gods. He felt so indebted to King Jupiter that he pledged to bring back the head of Medusa, one of only three mortal Gorgons. Gorgons were terrible creatures with snakes upon there heads. A direct look at a Gorgon would turn any mortal into stone. The gods were moved at Perseus’ bold pledge and many of them pledged to equip him in his quest. Pluto gave him his helmet while Mercury gave him wings for his feet and a diamond sword to slay the great Gorgon. Perseus cleverly used the reflection of his shiny buckler that was given to him by Minerva to cut her head off. This victory he was rendered immortal and was given a place in the stars.

Perseus is also well known for rescuing the beautiful Andromeda, the daughter of Cepheus the King and Cassiopeia the Queen, just in the nick of time from Cetus the Sea Monster. One condition of his rescue was that Andromeda would have to marry him. Their marriage turned out to be one of the better love stories in mythology.

The constellation of Perseus has some wonderful objects to offer to our heavenward gaze. It contains one Messier object, M34.

M34 is a fairly wide Open Cluster at 35’. It is even nearly visible in our light polluted skies in the Chicago area. It also contains one of the finest objects and a personal favorite, the famous Double Cluster. NGC 869 & NGC 884 can be seen together with a rich field telescope. I can see both at the same time with my f6.3 SCT along with my 67 degree FOV eyepiece. Perseus also contains the variable star Algol (the Demon Star) that varies in apparent magnitude from 2.1 to 3.4 in 10 hours time!

Perseus the Hero

Perseus the
Hero