Group of stars departs capital in open landau (9)
I believe the answer is:
andromeda
'group of stars' is the definition.
(Andromeda is a constellation)
'departs capital in open landau' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'departs' could be 'd' (common abbreviation e.g. train timetables) and 'd' is found within the answer.
'capital' could be 'rome' (capital of Italy) and 'rome' is found in the answer.
The remaining letters 'anda' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for andromeda that I've seen before include "Constellation with galaxy" , "group of stars" , "star group" , "Galaxy nearest ours" , "Pattern of stars" .)