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Sky Chart and Artist Rendering of Coma Berenices
Origin:
Coma Berenices (the Hair of Berenice) is among the most modern northern
constellations. It was proposed by Danish Astronomer Tycho Brahe in
1602.
Information:
Coma Berenices, like Canes Venatici, has
no truly bright stars but, also like Canes Venatici, it excels in the
number of galaxies beyond the Milky Way that an amateur astronomer can see
with a small telescope or even binoculars. Coma Berenices lies on
the edge of the rich collection of galaxies known as the Virgo
Cluster. For northern observers, Coma Berenices is nearly overhead
around mid-June and can be found as the starry patch of sky surrounded by Boötes and Leo and north of Virgo.
Legend:
Bernice was the wife of Ptolemy Euergetes, King of Egypt (c. 250 BC) who
placed her hair upon the altar in the temple of Aphrodite as an offering
to the gods for the safe return of her husband from the war with the
Assyrians. The hair disappeared from the temple but the court
astronomer Conon, preventing a scandal, "discovered" that the
gods liked the offering so much that they placed the trusses in the
heavens in the form of a constellation. |
