Starwatch: let bright Cassiopeia guide you to Lacerta, the lizard

Faint constellation of Lacerta is now perfectly placed for northern hemisphere viewers to identify

This week the small, admittedly faint constellation of Lacerta, the lizard, is perfectly placed for northern hemisphere viewers to identify. This grouping does not date to antiquity but was defined by the astronomer Johannes Hevelius in 1687, who originally proposed the name Stellio after the Mediterranean lizard species Laudakia stellio.

The constellation is located between the brighter ones of Cygnus, the swan, Cassiopeia and Andromeda. Cassiopeia in particular can help locate it because both constellations share a W" shape. In the case of Cassiopeia, the shape represents a queen sitting in her throne, whereas for Lacerta, the shape is made by the constellation's brightest stars. Brightest in this context means only of the fourth magnitude.