Look for Cassiopeia, Cepheus in early evening

Cassiopeia represents in Greek mythology a proud queen who boasted of her beauty, and Cepheus was her husband. They were legendary rulers of a kingdom that is supposed to have stretched from modern-day Syria to the shores of the Red Sea. Their daughter was Andromeda, and her husband was Perseus, both of whom also are represented in the sky.

Cassiopeia is a relatively bright constellation, and, to me, looks like a chair or a stretched W or M, depending on which way it is oriented in the sky. Once it is found, it's easy to recognize.

Look north and find Polaris and the Little Dipper. Unfortunately, the Big Dipper will be very low in the sky and not much help in finding Polaris, but Polaris is due north and reasonably bright. Directly above Polaris will be Cepheus and Cassiopeia. The Milky Way runs through Cassiopeia and Cepheus.

When you look through binoculars or a small telescope in a dark location, this region of the sky shows a wealth of stars, nebulae and star clusters. I find Cassiopeia easy to recognize and consider it to be an old friend, but Cepheus is fainter and more difficult to find, though still worth the effort.

Both constellations were listed by Ptolemy, a second-century astronomer and mathematician who lived in Alexandria, Egypt. His great work, the Almagest, is the only surviving comprehensive text on astronomy from ancient times. This massive work is one of the classics of scientific thought. It is unknown how much of it was Ptolemy's original work and how much represents ancient knowledge he codified.