Andromeda was a princess who was sacrificed to a sea monster but was rescued by the hero Perseus with the help of his winged horse Pegasus. The main figures in the myth including Andromeda, her parents Cepheus and Cassiopeia, Perseus and the sea monster were named as constellations. The brightest star in the constellation, Alpha Andromedae, is a blue-white binary star that has had probes sent to it to search for signs of intelligent life. Beta Andromedae is also a bright star that is a red giant variable star located 200 light years away.