Square of Pegasus easy to spot in northern sky

• Published date: 06 November 2021
• Publication title: Mix, The

The very distinctive square of Pegasus is easy to spot, low in the north as the sky darkens. Pegasus is the seventh-largest constellation in the heavens. Pegasus represents a winged horse tamed and ridden by Bellerophon. According to Greek mythology he slew the fire-breathing triple-headed Chimaera that had been terrorising parts of Lycia. The name of each star in the square is derived from Arabic. Markab translates to ‘‘shoulder’’, Scheat means ‘‘shin’’, Algenib is ‘‘side’’, while Alpheratz is ‘‘navel’’.

One thing I always like to do when stargazing is to compare the colours of stars. Three of the stars in the square are blue-white in hue but the star Scheat has a distinctly orange hue. This is because its surface temperature is a lot cooler than the other three stars.

A good test of your eyesight is to see how many dim stars you can count inside the square of Pegasus. Some people claim to have seen as many as 17 dim stars in this part of the sky with their...