Gamma Cas marks the central peak in the W-shaped constellation Cassiopeia. A hot, variable, and rapidly rotating star about 600 light-years distant, Gamma Cas also ionizes surrounding interstellar material, including the wispy IC 63 (left) and IC 59 emission and reflection nebulae. The two faint nebulae are physically close to Gamma Cas, separated from the star by only a few light-years.


Blood Meridian, Page 256:

When they rode out of the Yuma camp it was in the dark of the early morning. Cancer, Virgo, Leo raced the ecliptic down the southern night and to the north the constellation of Cassiopeia burned like a witch’s signature on the black face of the firmament.