- The Netherlands are featured in this MODIS, Terra image from July 17, 2006. The Netherlands, which means, literally ’low lands’ is very flat. About half its surface area is less than 1 meter above sea level, and large parts of it are below sea level! A system of dykes and dunes and water pumping stations protect these areas from flooding and keep the ground water level in check. Storms and human intervention have affected the coastline of the Netherlands for centuries, with land being both created, and claimed by the sea.
- Star Tales - Cetus (ianridpath.com)
When Cassiopeia, wife of King Cepheus of Ethiopia, boasted that she was more beautiful than the sea nymphs called the Nereids she set in motion one of the most celebrated stories in mythology, the main characters of which are commemorated among the constellations. In retribution for the insult to the Nereids, the sea god Poseidon sent a fearsome monster to ravage the coast of Cepheus’s territory. That monster, a dragon of the sea, is represented by the constellation Cetus.
