09/07/2021 – Ephemeris – The constellation of Cepheus the king

This is Bob Moler with Ephemeris for Tuesday, September 7th. Today the Sun will be up for 12 hours and 55 minutes, setting at 8:07, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:13. The Moon, 1 day past new, will set at 8:53 this evening.

There’s a faint constellation in the northeast above the W shaped constellation of Cassiopeia. It’s a nearly upside down church steeple of a constellation called Cepheus the king, and husband of queen Cassiopeia. Cepheus’ claim to modern astronomical fame is that one of its stars, Delta (δ) Cephei, is the archetype for the important Cepheid variable stars. Delta is the bottom most of a trio of stars at the right corner of the constellation. In the early 20th century, Henrietta Leavitt discovered that Cepheids in the nearby galaxy the Large Magellanic Cloud varied in brightness with a period that was related to their average brightness. This meant that Cepheids could be used as standard candles to measure the great distances to other galaxies.

The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EDT, UT – 4 hr). They may be different for your location.

Addendum

Cassiopeia and Cepheus finder animation looking in the northeast at 9-10 pm or about an hour after sunset. Created using Stellarium and GIMP.

Delta Cephei finder for September at 9-10 pm, looking northeast. Created using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Chart).

Light Curve of Delta Cephei. The pulsation period is 5.367 days. Note the Magnitude vertical axis, the lower the magnitude the brighter the star is. Blame that on the Greek astronomer Hipparchus, 2nd century BC. It’s like golf scores, the lower the score, the better the golfer. Credit: Thomas K Vbg – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=13887639.