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Far from any lights, the sky fills with stars. Drawn from real star positions; bigger dots are brighter stars. See it from a city or the suburbs in the app.

✨ Constellation

Perseus

The hero Perseus, where the Perseid meteors seem to come from every August.

Name means: A hero from Greek myth
Best seen: December evenings
Where to see it: The northern half of Earth, and the tropics south of the equator
Brightest star: Mirfak
Stars in the pattern: 23

Did you know?

Its star Algol, the “demon star”, fades every 2.9 days when a dimmer partner passes in front of it.
The Perseid meteor shower, one of the best of the year, seems to come from here.

In this part of the sky

Andromeda The chained princess, and the way to find the Andromeda Galaxy. Cassiopeia A bright W of five stars, named after a boastful queen. Taurus The Bull, with red Aldebaran as its glowing eye.

More NASA photos of PerseusStraight from NASA’s image library, in the app

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All of night sky

Orion The Hunter, with three bright stars in a row for his belt. Ursa Major The Great Bear, home of the Big Dipper. Ursa Minor The Little Bear, with Polaris at the tip of its tail. Cassiopeia A bright W of five stars, named after a boastful queen. Scorpius The Scorpion, with red Antares at its heart. Leo The Lion, whose head is a backwards question mark of stars.

Facts: Star patterns: d3-celestial (IAU figures, Hipparcos star data). Stories: traditional Greek and Roman myths. Open Perseus in the app.