Caph is equidistant from the Pole, and exactly opposite the star Megres in Ursa Major; with α Andromedæ and γ Pegasi it marks the equinoctial colure. These stars are known as "The Three Guides."
The chair can be readily traced out; β, α, and γ mark three of the four corners of the back, and δ and ε, one of the front legs. The word "Bagdei," made up of the letters for the principal stars, assists the memory.
The stars γ and β are pointer stars to a fifth-magnitude star the lucida of the asterism Lacerta, the lizard about 15° from β.
Cassiopeia makes an excellent illuminated clock. When β is above Polaris it is noon, when it is in the west at right angles to its first position it is 6 p.m. At midnight it is on the northern horizon, and at 6 p.m. it is due east.
This is sidereal time which agrees with mean time on March 22d, and gains on the latter at the rate of two hours a month.
CEPHEUS (sē´-fūs) (Face North.)
Location.—A line drawn from α to β Cassiopeiæ and prolonged about 18° strikes α Cephei. The nearest bright star west of Polaris is γ Cephei. Cepheus is an inconspicuous constellation, lying partly in the Milky Way. A view of this constellation through an opera-glass will repay the observer. Cepheus is characterized by a rude square, one side of which is the base of an isosceles triangle. Look for the so-called garnet star μ, probably the reddest star visible to the naked eye in the United States. The star ζ has a blue companion star.