Perseus, perseos or Perseas is a legendary founder of Mycenae and the Perseid dynasty and the first hero in Greek mythology. He helped establish the hegemony of Zeus and the Twelve Olympians in the mainland of Greece. And it was he who killed Medusa Gorgona.
But for the sky lovers Perseus doesn’t mean only that, for them on the first hand Perseus is a northern a sort of “A” shaped constellation just left from Pegasus and Andromeda. It is one of Ptolemy's 48 constellations and was also adopted by the International Astronomical Union as one of the 88 modern constellations.
You can see it in the northeastern sky in the early evening. The number of stars in the constellation is 5, the brightest star (Mirfak) is also called Algenib. Apperent brightness of Mirfak (Arabic for elbow) is 1.79 m lying at a distance of ca. 590 light-years. Its luminosity is 5,000 times and its diameter is 62 times that of our Sun.
Algol may is not the brightest, but the most famous star of constellation. It got its name, when the ancient astronomers noticed its periodic dimming and brightening – like winking of an eye. For that reason it was associated with an eye of the Gorgon Medusa.
Binoculars will reveal you the other site of the wonderful and mythic hero Perseus – Persues double star cluster. Looking from a dark place they will show you the brightest starts of the cluster. You will be able to see the two fuzzy blobs without any serious help, but use the
binoculars.
More coming later! Enjoy the sky!