Andromeda is the "chained-maiden", since she is depicted often as a woman chained to a rockface as a sacrifice to a sea-serpent. This is because her mother, Cassiopeia, was bragging just a little too much and so Andromeda had to pay the price. Fortunately, Andromeda was rescued by Perseus, who was riding the winged horse Pegasus. Perseus later dumped Andromeda for another woman, so it's not too much different from modern tails of romance, right? Andromeda is of course best known for being the home to the Andromeda Galaxy, which is represented here as one of those ovals up and to the right of the star Mirach. The Andromeda Galaxy is well beyond the location of the stars of Andromeda, being over 2 million light years away from us. Even at that great distance, it is still one of our nearest neighbors.

You may have noticed that the red lines that depict the stick-figure of the constellation are drawn so that they are connected to another constellation - this isn't so unusual, especially when you consider that the other constellation is Pegasus, one of the characters in Andromeda's story.

Andromeda is best seen in the autumn skies, and passes high overhead.