Coma Berenices is an ancient asterism in the northern sky, which has been defined as one of the 88 modern constellations. It is in the direction of the fourth

galactic quadrant A galactic quadrant, or quadrant of the Galaxy, is one of four circular sectors in the division of the Milky Way Galaxy. Quadrants in the galactic coordinate system In actual astronomical practice, the delineation of the galactic quadrants ...

, between

Leo Leo or Léo may refer to: Acronyms * Law enforcement officer * Law enforcement organisation * ''Louisville Eccentric Observer'', a free weekly newspaper in Louisville, Kentucky * Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity Arts an ...

and

Boötes Boötes ( ) is a constellation in the northern sky, located between 0° and +60° declination, and 13 and 16 hours of right ascension on the celestial sphere. The name comes from la, Boōtēs, which comes from grc-gre, Βοώτης, Boṓtē ...

, and it is visible in both hemispheres. Its name means "Berenice's Hair" in

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...

and refers to Queen Berenice II of Egypt, who sacrificed her long hair as a

votive offering A votive offering or votive deposit is one or more objects displayed or deposited, without the intention of recovery or use, in a sacred place for religious purposes. Such items are a feature of modern and ancient societies and are generall ...

. It was introduced to Western astronomy during the third century BC by Conon of Samos and was further corroborated as a constellation by

Gerardus Mercator Gerardus Mercator (; 5 March 1512 – 2 December 1594) was a 16th-century geographer, cosmographer and cartographer from the County of Flanders. He is most renowned for creating the 1569 world map based on a new projection which represented ...

and

Tycho Brahe Tycho Brahe ( ; born Tyge Ottesen Brahe; generally called Tycho (14 December 154624 October 1601) was a Danish astronomer, known for his comprehensive astronomical observations, generally considered to be the most accurate of his time. He was ...

. It is the only

modern constellation In contemporary astronomy, 88 constellations are recognized by the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Each constellation is a region of the sky, bordered by arcs of right ascension and declination. Together they cover the celestial spher ...

named for a historic person. The constellation's major stars are Alpha,

Beta Beta (, ; uppercase , lowercase , or cursive ; grc, βῆτα, bē̂ta or ell, βήτα, víta) is the second letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of 2. In Modern Greek, it represents the voiced labi ...

, and Gamma Comae Berenices. They form a half square, along the diagonal of which run Berenice's imaginary tresses, formed by the

Coma Star Cluster The Coma Star Cluster (also known as Melotte 111 or Collinder 256) is a small but nearby open cluster located in the constellation Coma Berenices. The cluster contains about 40 brighter stars (between magnitudes 5 and 10) with a common proper ...

. The constellation's brightest star is Beta Comae Berenices, a 4.2- magnitude

main sequence In astronomy, the main sequence is a continuous and distinctive band of stars that appears on plots of stellar color versus brightness. These color-magnitude plots are known as Hertzsprung–Russell diagrams after their co-developers, Ejnar Her ...

star similar to the Sun. Coma Berenices contains the North Galactic Pole and one of the richest-known

galaxy cluster A galaxy cluster, or a cluster of galaxies, is a structure that consists of anywhere from hundreds to thousands of galaxies that are bound together by gravity, with typical masses ranging from 1014 to 1015 solar masses. They are the second-la ...

s, the

Coma Cluster The Coma Cluster (Abell 1656) is a large cluster of galaxies that contains over 1,000 identified galaxies. Along with the Leo Cluster (Abell 1367), it is one of the two major clusters comprising the Coma Supercluster. It is located in and ta ...

, part of the Coma Supercluster. Galaxy

Malin 1 __NOTOC__ Malin 1 is a giant low surface brightness (LSB) spiral galaxy. It is located away in the constellation Coma Berenices, near the North Galactic Pole. , it is the largest known spiral galaxy, with an approximate diameter of , thus over ...

, in the constellation, is the first-known giant low-surface-brightness galaxy. Supernova

SN 1940B SN 1940B was a supernova discovered on 5 May 1940 in the galaxy NGC 4725 NGC 4725 is an intermediate barred spiral galaxy with a prominent ring structure, located in the northern constellation of Coma Berenices near the north galactic pole. I ...

was the first scientifically observed (underway)

type II supernova A Type II supernova (plural: ''supernovae'' or ''supernovas'') results from the rapid collapse and violent explosion of a massive star. A star must have at least 8 times, but no more than 40 to 50 times, the mass of the Sun () to undergo this ...

. FK Comae Berenices is the prototype of an eponymous class of variable stars. The constellation is the

radiant Radiant may refer to: Computers, software, and video games * Radiant (software), a content management system * GtkRadiant, a level editor created by id Software for their games * Radiant AI, a technology developed by Bethesda Softworks for ''The ...

of one

meteor shower A meteor shower is a celestial event in which a number of meteors are observed to radiate, or originate, from one point in the night sky. These meteors are caused by streams of cosmic debris called meteoroids entering Earth's atmosphere at extr ...

Coma Berenicids Comae Berenicids ''sic.html" ;"title="/nowiki>''sic">/nowiki>''sic''/nowiki> (formerly Coma Berenicids, International Meteor Organization">IMO designation: COM; International Astronomical Union">IAU shower number: 20) is a minor meteor shower wi ...

, which has one of the fastest meteor speeds, up to .

History

Coma Berenices has been recognized as an asterism since the

Hellenistic period In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in ...

(or much earlier, according to some authors), and is the only

named for an historic figure. It was introduced to Western astronomy during the third century BC by Conon of Samos, the court astronomer of Egyptian ruler

Ptolemy III Euergetes , predecessor = Ptolemy II , successor = Ptolemy IV , nebty = ''ḳn nḏtj-nṯrw jnb-mnḫ-n-tꜢmrj'Qen nedjtinetjeru inebmenekhentamery''The brave one who has protected the gods, a potent wall for The Beloved Land , nebty_hie ...

, to honour Ptolemy's consort, Berenice II. Berenice vowed to sacrifice her long hair as a

if Ptolemy returned safely from battle during the Third Syrian War. Modern scholars are uncertain if Berenice made the sacrifice before or after Ptolemy's return; it was suggested that it happened after Ptolemy's return (around March–June or May 245 BC), when Conon presented the asterism jointly with scholar and poet

Callimachus Callimachus (; ) was an ancient Greek poet, scholar and librarian who was active in Alexandria during the 3rd century BC. A representative of Ancient Greek literature of the Hellenistic period, he wrote over 800 literary works in a wide variet ...

during a public evening ceremony. In Callimachus' poem, '' Aetia'' (composed around that time), Berenice dedicated her tresses "to all the gods". In Poem 66, the Latin translation by the Roman poet

Catullus Gaius Valerius Catullus (; 84 - 54 BCE), often referred to simply as Catullus (, ), was a Latin poetry, Latin poet of the late Roman Republic who wrote chiefly in the neoteric style of poetry, focusing on personal life rather than classical h ...

, and in

Hyginus Gaius Julius Hyginus (; 64 BC – AD 17) was a Latin author, a pupil of the scholar Alexander Polyhistor, and a freedman of Caesar Augustus. He was elected superintendent of the Palatine library by Augustus according to Suetonius' ''De Gramma ...

' ''

De Astronomica ''De Astronomica'', or the ''Astronomy'', also known as ''Poeticon Astronomicon'', is a book of stories whose text is attributed to "Hyginus", though the true authorship is disputed. During the Renaissance, the work was attributed to the Roma ...

'', she dedicated her tresses to

Aphrodite Aphrodite ( ; grc-gre, Ἀφροδίτη, Aphrodítē; , , ) is an ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek goddess associated with love, lust, beauty, pleasure, passion (emotion), passion, and procreation. She was syncretized with the Roman god ...

and placed them in the temple of Arsinoe II (identified after Berenice's death with Aphrodite) at Zephyrium. According to ''De astronomica'', by the next morning the tresses had disappeared. Conon proposed that Aphrodite had placed the tresses in the sky as an acknowledgement of Berenice's sacrifice. Callimachus called the asterism ''plokamos Berenikēs'' or ''bostrukhon Berenikēs'' in Greek, translated into Latin as "Coma Berenices" by Catullus.

Hipparchus Hipparchus (; el, Ἵππαρχος, ''Hipparkhos''; BC) was a Greek astronomer, geographer, and mathematician. He is considered the founder of trigonometry, but is most famous for his incidental discovery of the precession of the equ ...

and

Geminus Geminus of Rhodes ( el, Γεμῖνος ὁ Ῥόδιος), was a Greek astronomer and mathematician, who flourished in the 1st century BC. An astronomy work of his, the ''Introduction to the Phenomena'', still survives; it was intended as an int ...

also recognized it as a distinct constellation.

Eratosthenes Eratosthenes of Cyrene (; grc-gre, Ἐρατοσθένης ; – ) was a Greek polymath: a mathematician, geographer, poet, astronomer, and music theorist. He was a man of learning, becoming the chief librarian at the Library of Alexand ...

called it "Berenice's Hair" and "

Ariadne Ariadne (; grc-gre, Ἀριάδνη; la, Ariadne) was a Cretan princess in Greek mythology. She was mostly associated with mazes and labyrinths because of her involvement in the myths of the Minotaur and Theseus. She is best known for havin ...

's Hair", considering it part of the constellation

. Similarly,

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of import ...

did not include it among his 48 constellations in the ''

Almagest The ''Almagest'' is a 2nd-century Greek-language mathematical and astronomical treatise on the apparent motions of the stars and planetary paths, written by Claudius Ptolemy ( ). One of the most influential scientific texts in history, it cano ...

''; considering it part of Leo and calling it ''Plokamos''. Coma Berenices became popular during the 16th century. In 1515, a set of gores by

Johannes Schöner Johannes Schöner (16 January 1477, in Karlstadt am Main – 16 January 1547, in the Free Imperial City of Nuremberg) (aka, Johann Schönner, Johann Schoener, Jean Schönner, Joan Schoenerus) was a renowned and respected German polymath. It i ...

labelled the asterism ''Trica'', "hair". In 1536 it appeared on a

celestial globe Celestial globes show the apparent place, apparent positions of the stars in the sky. They omit the Sun, Moon, and planets because the positions of these bodies vary relative to those of the stars, but the ecliptic, along which the Sun moves, is ...

by Caspar Vopel, who is credited with the asterism's designation as a constellation. That year, it also appeared on a celestial map by

Petrus Apianus Petrus Apianus (April 16, 1495 – April 21, 1552), also known as Peter Apian, Peter Bennewitz, and Peter Bienewitz, was a German humanist, known for his works in mathematics, astronomy and cartography. His work on " cosmography", the field that ...

as "Crines Berenices". In 1551, Coma Berenices appeared on a

with five Latin and Greek names: Cincinnus, ''caesaries'', ''πλόκαμος'', ''Berenicis crinis'' and Trica. Mercator's reputation as a cartographer ensured the constellation's inclusion on Dutch sky globes beginning in 1589.

, also credited with Coma's designation as a constellation, included it in his 1602

star catalogue A star catalogue is an astronomical catalogue that lists stars. In astronomy, many stars are referred to simply by catalogue numbers. There are a great many different star catalogues which have been produced for different purposes over the years ...

. Brahe recorded fourteen stars in the constellation;

Johannes Hevelius Johannes Hevelius Some sources refer to Hevelius as Polish: * * * * * * * Some sources refer to Hevelius as German: * * * * *of the Royal Society * (in German also known as ''Hevel''; pl, Jan Heweliusz; – 28 January 1687) was a councillo ...

increased its number to twenty-one, and

John Flamsteed John Flamsteed (19 August 1646 – 31 December 1719) was an English astronomer and the first Astronomer Royal. His main achievements were the preparation of a 3,000-star catalogue, ''Catalogus Britannicus'', and a star atlas called '' Atlas C ...

to forty-three. Coma Berenices also appeared in

Johann Bayer Johann Bayer (1572 – 7 March 1625) was a German lawyer and uranographer (celestial cartographer). He was born in Rain, Lower Bavaria, in 1572. At twenty, in 1592 he began his study of philosophy and law at the University of Ingolstadt, ...

's 1603 ''

Uranometria ''Uranometria'' is a star atlas produced by Johann Bayer. It was published in Augsburg in 1603 by Christoph Mangle (''Christophorus Mangus'') under the full title ''Uranometria: omnium asterismorum continens schemata, nova methodo delineata, a ...

'', and a few other 17th-century celestial maps followed suit. Coma Berenices and the now-obsolete

Antinous Antinous, also called Antinoös, (; grc-gre, Ἀντίνοος; 27 November – before 30 October 130) was a Greek youth from Bithynia and a favourite and probable lover of the Roman emperor Hadrian. Following his premature death before his ...

are considered the first post-Ptolemaic constellations depicted on a celestial globe. With Antinous, Coma Berenices exemplified a trend in astronomy in which globe- and map-makers continued to rely on the ancients for data. This trend ended at the turn of the 16th century with observations of the

southern sky The southern celestial hemisphere, also called the Southern Sky, is the southern half of the celestial sphere; that is, it lies south of the celestial equator. This arbitrary sphere, on which seemingly fixed stars form constellations, app ...

and the work of Tycho Brahe. Before the 18th century Coma Berenices was known in English by several names, including "Berenice's Bush" and "Berenice's periwig". The earliest-known English name, "Berenices haire", dates to 1601. By 1702 the constellation was known as Coma Berenices, and appears as such in the 1731 '' Universal Etymological English Dictionary''.

Non-Western astronomy

Coma Berenices was known to the

Akkadians The Akkadian Empire () was the first ancient empire of Mesopotamia after the long-lived civilization of Sumer. It was centered in the city of Akkad () and its surrounding region. The empire united Akkadian and Sumerian speakers under one rule. ...

as Ḫegala. In

Babylonian astronomy Babylonian astronomy was the study or recording of celestial objects during the early history of Mesopotamia. Babylonian astronomy seemed to have focused on a select group of stars and constellations known as Ziqpu stars. These constellations ...

a star, known as ḪÉ.GÁL-''a''-''a'' (translated as "which is before it") or MÚL.ḪÉ.GÁL-''a''-''a'', is tentatively considered part of Coma Berenices. It was also argued that Coma Berenices appears in Egyptian

Ramesside star clocks The Ramesside star clocks are ancient Egyptian star clock A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma held together by its gravity. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked ...

as ''sb3w ꜥš3w'', meaning "many stars". In Arabic astronomy Coma Berenices was known as ''Al-Dafira'' and ''Al-Hulba'' (translations of Ptolemaic ''Plokamos''), forming the tuft of the constellation Leo and including most of the Flamsteed-designated stars (particularly 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18 and 21 Comae Berenices).

Ulugh Beg Mīrzā Muhammad Tāraghay bin Shāhrukh ( chg, میرزا محمد طارق بن شاہ رخ, fa, میرزا محمد تراغای بن شاہ رخ), better known as Ulugh Beg () (22 March 1394 – 27 October 1449), was a Timurid sultan, as ...

, however, regarded ''Al-Dafira'' as consisting of two stars, 7 and 23 Comae Berenices. The North American

Pawnee people The Pawnee are a Central Plains Indian tribe that historically lived in Nebraska and northern Kansas but today are based in Oklahoma. Today they are the federally recognized Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma, who are headquartered in Pawnee, Oklahom ...

depicted Coma Berenices as ten faint stars on a tanned elk-skin star map dated to at least the 17th century. In the South American Kalina mythology, the constellation was known as ''ombatapo'' (face). The constellation was also recognized by several

Polynesian peoples Polynesians form an ethnolinguistic group of closely related people who are native to Polynesia (islands in the Polynesian Triangle), an expansive region of Oceania in the Pacific Ocean. They trace their early prehistoric origins to Island Sout ...

. The people of

Tonga Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...

had four names for Coma Berenices: ''Fatana-lua'', ''Fata-olunga'', ''Fata-lalo'' and ''Kapakau-o-Tafahi''. The

Boorong people The Wergaia or Werrigia people are an Aboriginal Australian group in the Mallee and Wimmera regions of north-Western Victoria, made up of a number of clans. The people were also known as the Maligundidj (in the Wotjobaluk language) which means ...

called the constellation ''Tourt-chinboiong-gherra'', and saw it as a small flock of birds drinking rainwater from a puddle in the

crotch In humans, the crotch is the bottom of the pelvis (the region of the body where the legs join the torso) and is often considered to include the groin and genitals. Etymology ''Crotch'' is derived from ''crutch''; it "was first used in 1539 ...

of a tree. The people of the

Pukapuka Pukapuka, formerly Danger Island, is a coral atoll in the northern group of the Cook Islands in the Pacific Ocean. It is one of most remote islands of the Cook Islands, situated about northwest of Rarotonga. On this small island, an ancient ...

atoll may have called it ''Te Yiku-o-te-kiole'', although sometimes this name is associated with

Ursa Major Ursa Major (; also known as the Great Bear) is a constellation in the northern sky, whose associated mythology likely dates back into prehistory. Its Latin name means "greater (or larger) bear," referring to and contrasting it with nearby Ursa ...

Characteristics

Coma Berenices is bordered by Boötes to the east, Canes Venatici to the north, Leo to the west and Virgo to the south. Covering 386.5 square degrees and 0.937% of the night sky, it ranks 42nd of the 88 constellations by area. The three-letter abbreviation for the constellation, as adopted by the

International Astronomical Union The International Astronomical Union (IAU; french: link=yes, Union astronomique internationale, UAI) is a nongovernmental organisation with the objective of advancing astronomy in all aspects, including promoting astronomical research, outreach ...

in 1922, is "Com". The official constellation boundaries, as set by Belgian astronomer Eugène Delporte in 1930, are defined by a polygon of 12 segments (''illustrated in infobox''). In the

equatorial coordinate system The equatorial coordinate system is a celestial coordinate system widely used to specify the positions of celestial objects. It may be implemented in spherical or rectangular coordinates, both defined by an origin at the centre of Earth, a fun ...

, the

right ascension Right ascension (abbreviated RA; symbol ) is the angular distance of a particular point measured eastward along the celestial equator from the Sun at the March equinox to the ( hour circle of the) point in question above the earth. When pai ...

coordinates of these borders lie between and , and the

declination In astronomy, declination (abbreviated dec; symbol ''δ'') is one of the two angles that locate a point on the celestial sphere in the equatorial coordinate system, the other being hour angle. Declination's angle is measured north or south of t ...

coordinates are between +13.30° and +33.31°. Coma Berenices is wholly visible to observers north of latitude 56°S. and the constellation's midnight

culmination In observational astronomy, culmination is the passage of a celestial object (such as the Sun, the Moon, a planet, a star, constellation or a deep-sky object) across the observer's local meridian. These events were also known as meridian tran ...

occurs on 2 April.

Features

Although it is not large, Coma Berenices contains one galactic

supercluster A supercluster is a large group of smaller galaxy clusters or galaxy groups; they are among the largest known structures in the universe. The Milky Way is part of the Local Group galaxy group (which contains more than 54 galaxies), which in turn ...

, two galactic clusters, one

star cluster Star clusters are large groups of stars. Two main types of star clusters can be distinguished: globular clusters are tight groups of ten thousand to millions of old stars which are gravitationally bound, while open clusters are more loosely clus ...

and eight

Messier object The Messier objects are a set of 110 astronomical objects catalogued by the French astronomer Charles Messier in his ''Catalogue des Nébuleuses et des Amas d'Étoiles'' (''Catalogue of Nebulae and Star Clusters''). Because Messier was only i ...

s (including several

globular cluster A globular cluster is a spheroidal conglomeration of stars. Globular clusters are bound together by gravity, with a higher concentration of stars towards their centers. They can contain anywhere from tens of thousands to many millions of memb ...

s). These objects can be seen with minimal obscuration by dust because the constellation is not in the direction of the

galactic plane The galactic plane is the plane on which the majority of a disk-shaped galaxy's mass lies. The directions perpendicular to the galactic plane point to the galactic poles. In actual usage, the terms ''galactic plane'' and ''galactic poles'' usual ...

. Because of that, there are few

open cluster An open cluster is a type of star cluster made of up to a few thousand stars that were formed from the same giant molecular cloud and have roughly the same age. More than 1,100 open clusters have been discovered within the Milky Way galaxy, and ...

s (except for the Coma Berenices Cluster, which dominates the northern part of the constellation), diffuse

nebula A nebula ('cloud' or 'fog' in Latin; pl. nebulae, nebulæ or nebulas) is a distinct luminescent part of interstellar medium, which can consist of ionized, neutral or molecular hydrogen and also cosmic dust. Nebulae are often star-forming regio ...

e or

planetary nebula A planetary nebula (PN, plural PNe) is a type of emission nebula consisting of an expanding, glowing shell of ionized gas ejected from red giant stars late in their lives. The term "planetary nebula" is a misnomer because they are unrelate ...

e. Coma Berenices contains the North Galactic Pole at

and

(epoch J2000.0).

Stars

Brightest stars

Coma Berenices is not particularly bright, as none of its stars are brighter than fourth magnitude, although there are 66 stars brighter than or equal to

apparent magnitude Apparent magnitude () is a measure of the brightness of a star or other astronomical object observed from Earth. An object's apparent magnitude depends on its intrinsic luminosity, its distance from Earth, and any extinction of the object's li ...

6.5. The constellation's brightest star is Beta Comae Berenices (43 Comae Berenices in

Flamsteed designation A Flamsteed designation is a combination of a number and constellation name that uniquely identifies most naked eye stars in the modern constellations visible from southern England. They are named for John Flamsteed who first used them while c ...

, occasionally known as Al-Dafira), at magnitude 4.2 and with a high

proper motion Proper motion is the astrometric measure of the observed changes in the apparent places of stars or other celestial objects in the sky, as seen from the center of mass of the Solar System, compared to the abstract background of the more dista ...

. In Coma Berenices' northeastern region, it is 29.95 ± 0.10

light-year A light-year, alternatively spelled light year, is a large unit of length used to express astronomical distances and is equivalent to about 9.46 trillion kilometers (), or 5.88 trillion miles ().One trillion here is taken to be 101 ...

s from Earth. A solar analog, it is a yellow-hued

F-type main-sequence star An F-type main-sequence star (F V) is a main-sequence, hydrogen-fusing star of spectral type F and luminosity class V. These stars have from 1.0 to 1.4 times the mass of the Sun and surface temperatures between 6,000 and 7,600 K.Tables VI ...

with a

spectral class In astronomy, stellar classification is the classification of stars based on their spectral characteristics. Electromagnetic radiation from the star is analyzed by splitting it with a prism or diffraction grating into a spectrum exhibiting th ...

of F9.5V B. Beta Comae Berenices is around 36% brighter,. See Table 10. and 15% more massive than the

Sun The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this energy mainly as light, ultraviolet, and infrared rad ...

, ''Note:'' see VizieR catalogu
J/ApJS/168/297
and with a radius 10% larger. The second-brightest star in Coma Berenices is the 4.3-magnitude, bluish Alpha Comae Berenices (42 Comae Berenices), with the

proper name A proper noun is a noun that identifies a single entity and is used to refer to that entity (''Africa'', ''Jupiter'', ''Sarah'', ''Microsoft)'' as distinguished from a common noun, which is a noun that refers to a class of entities (''continent, ...

Diadem, in the southeastern part of the constellation. Despite its Alpha

Bayer designation A Bayer designation is a stellar designation in which a specific star is identified by a Greek or Latin letter followed by the genitive form of its parent constellation's Latin name. The original list of Bayer designations contained 1,564 stars. T ...

, the star is dimmer than Beta Comae Berenices, being one of the cases where designation does not correspond to the brightest star. It is a

double star In observational astronomy, a double star or visual double is a pair of stars that appear close to each other as viewed from Earth, especially with the aid of optical telescopes. This occurs because the pair either forms a binary star (i.e. a ...

, with the spectral classes of F5V and F6V. The star system is 58.1 ± 0.9 light-years from Earth. Gamma Comae Berenices (15 Comae Berenices) is an orange-hued

giant star A giant star is a star with substantially larger radius and luminosity than a main-sequence (or ''dwarf'') star of the same surface temperature.Giant star, entry in ''Astronomy Encyclopedia'', ed. Patrick Moore, New York: Oxford University Press ...

with a magnitude of 4.4 and a spectral class of K1III C. In the southwestern part of the constellation, it is 169 ± 2 light-years from Earth, Estimated to be around 1.79 times as massive as the Sun, it has expanded to around 10 times its radius.HD 108381
Accessed on line October 12, 2010. It is the brightest star in the

. With Alpha Comae Berenices and Beta Comae Berenices, Gamma Comae Berenices forms a 45-degree

isosceles triangle In geometry, an isosceles triangle () is a triangle that has two sides of equal length. Sometimes it is specified as having ''exactly'' two sides of equal length, and sometimes as having ''at least'' two sides of equal length, the latter versio ...

from which Berenice's imaginary tresses hang.

Star systems

The

star system A star system or stellar system is a small number of stars that orbit each other, bound by gravitational attraction. A large group of stars bound by gravitation is generally called a '' star cluster'' or ''galaxy'', although, broadly speakin ...

s of Coma Berenices include

binary Binary may refer to: Science and technology Mathematics * Binary number, a representation of numbers using only two digits (0 and 1) * Binary function, a function that takes two arguments * Binary operation, a mathematical operation that ta ...

double A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another. Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to: Film and television * Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character * Th ...

and triple stars. 21 Comae Berenices (

Kissin) is a close binary with nearly equal components and an

orbital period The orbital period (also revolution period) is the amount of time a given astronomical object takes to complete one orbit around another object. In astronomy, it usually applies to planets or asteroids orbiting the Sun, moons orbiting planets ...

of 26 years. The system is 272 ± 3 light-years away. The

contains at least eight

spectroscopic binaries A binary star is a system of two stars that are gravitationally bound to and in orbit around each other. Binary stars in the night sky that are seen as a single object to the naked eye are often resolved using a telescope as separate stars, in ...

, and the constellation has seven

eclipsing binaries A binary star is a system of two stars that are gravitationally bound to and in orbit around each other. Binary stars in the night sky that are seen as a single object to the naked eye are often resolved using a telescope as separate stars, in ...

: CC, DD, EK, RW, RZ, SS and UX Comae Berenices. There are over thirty

s in Coma Berenices, including

24 Comae Berenices 24 Comae Berenices is a triple star system in the northern constellation A constellation is an area on the celestial sphere in which a group of visible stars forms Asterism (astronomy), a perceived pattern or outline, typically rep ...

with contrasting colors. Its primary is an orange-hued giant star with a magnitude of 5.0, 610 light-years from Earth, and its secondary is a blue-white-hued star with a magnitude of 6.6. Triple stars include 12 Comae Berenices, 17 Comae Berenices,

KR Comae Berenices KR is the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 and WMO country code for South Korea. KR or Kr may also refer to: Sports * KR (basketball club), associated with Knattspyrnufélag Reykjavíkur * Knattspyrnufélag Reykjavíkur, an Icelandic football club * Kickof ...

and

Struve 1639 Struve is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: Astronomers * Struve family *Jacob Struve (1755–1841) * Friedrich Georg Wilhelm von Struve (1793–1864), son of Jacob * Otto Wilhelm von Struve (1819–1905), son of Friedrich * Gust ...

Variable stars

Over 200

variable star A variable star is a star whose brightness as seen from Earth (its apparent magnitude) changes with time. This variation may be caused by a change in emitted light or by something partly blocking the light, so variable stars are classified as e ...

s are known in Coma Berenices, although many are obscure. Alpha Comae Berenices is a possible Algol variable. FK Comae Berenices, which varies from magnitude 8.14 to 8.33 over a period of 2.4 days, is the prototype for the FK Comae Berenices class of variable stars and the star in which the " flip-flop phenomenon" was discovered. FS Comae Berenices is a

semi-regular variable In astronomy, a semiregular variable star, a type of variable star, is a giant or supergiant of intermediate and late (cooler) spectral type showing considerable periodicity in its light changes, accompanied or sometimes interrupted by various irre ...

, a

red giant A red giant is a luminous giant star of low or intermediate mass (roughly 0.3–8 solar masses ()) in a late phase of stellar evolution. The outer atmosphere is inflated and tenuous, making the radius large and the surface temperature around or ...

with a period of about two months whose magnitude varies between 6.1 and 5.3. R Comae Berenices is a

Mira variable Mira variables (named for the prototype star Mira) are a class of pulsating stars characterized by very red colours, pulsation periods longer than 100 days, and amplitudes greater than one magnitude in infrared and 2.5 magnitude at visual wave ...

with a maximum magnitude of almost 7. There are 123

RR Lyrae variable RR Lyrae variables are periodic variable stars, commonly found in globular clusters. They are used as standard candles to measure (extra) galactic distances, assisting with the cosmic distance ladder. This class is named after the prototype ...

s in the constellation, with many in the M53 cluster. One of these stars, TU Comae Berenices, may have a binary system. The M100 galaxy contains about twenty

Cepheid variable A Cepheid variable () is a type of star that pulsates radially, varying in both diameter and temperature and producing changes in brightness with a well-defined stable period and amplitude. A strong direct relationship between a Cepheid varia ...

s, which were observed by the

Hubble Space Telescope The Hubble Space Telescope (often referred to as HST or Hubble) is a space telescope that was launched into low Earth orbit in 1990 and remains in operation. It was not the first space telescope, but it is one of the largest and most ver ...

. Coma Berenices also contains Alpha² Canum Venaticorum variables, such as

13 Comae Berenices 13 Comae Berenices is a probable binary star system in the northern constellation of Coma Berenices. It has an apparent visual magnitude of 5.17, which is bright enough to be faintly visible to the naked eye. With an annual parallax shif ...

and AI Comae Berenices. In 2019 scientists at Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences announced the discovery of 28 new variable stars in Coma Berenices' globular cluster

NGC 4147 NGC 4147 is the ''New General Catalogue'' identifier for a globular cluster of stars in the northern constellation of Coma Berenices. It was discovered by English astronomer William Herschel on March 14, 1784, who described it as "very bright, ...

Supernovae

A number of supernovae have been discovered in Coma Berenices. Four (

, SN 1969H,

SN 1987E NGC 4725 is an intermediate barred spiral galaxy with a prominent ring structure, located in the northern constellation of Coma Berenices near the north galactic pole. It was discovered by German-born astronomer William Herschel on April 6, ...

and

SN 1999gs NGC 4725 is an intermediate spiral galaxy, intermediate barred spiral galaxy with a prominent ring structure, located in the northern constellation of Coma Berenices near the north galactic pole. It was discovered by German-born astronomer Willi ...

) were in the

NGC 4725 NGC 4725 is an intermediate barred spiral galaxy with a prominent ring structure, located in the northern constellation of Coma Berenices near the north galactic pole. It was discovered by German-born astronomer William Herschel on April 6, 178 ...

galaxy, and another four were discovered in the M99 galaxy (NGC 4254): SN 1967H, SN 1972Q, SN 1986I and SN 2014L. Five were discovered in the M100 galaxy (NGC 4321): SN 1901B, SN 1914A, SN 1959E, SN 1979C and

SN 2006X SN 2006X was a Type Ia supernova about 65 million light-years away in Messier 100, a spiral galaxy in the constellation Coma Berenices. The supernova was independently discovered in early February 2006 by Shoji Suzuki of Japan and Marco Migl ...

. SN 1940B, discovered on 5 May 1940, was the first observed

. SN 2005ap, discovered on 3 March 2005, is the second-brightest-known supernova to date with a peak

absolute magnitude Absolute magnitude () is a measure of the luminosity of a celestial object on an inverse logarithmic astronomical magnitude scale. An object's absolute magnitude is defined to be equal to the apparent magnitude that the object would have if it we ...

of about −22.7. Due to its great distance from Earth (4.7 billion light-years), it was not visible to the naked eye and was discovered telescopically. SN 1979C, discovered in 1979, retained its original

X-ray X-rays (or rarely, ''X-radiation'') are a form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation. In many languages, it is referred to as Röntgen radiation, after the German scientist Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen, who discovered it in 1895 and named it ' ...

brightness for 25 years despite fading in visible light.

Other stars

Coma Berenices also contains the

neutron star A neutron star is the collapsed core of a massive supergiant star, which had a total mass of between 10 and 25 solar masses, possibly more if the star was especially metal-rich. Except for black holes and some hypothetical objects (e.g. w ...

RBS 1223 RBS may refer to: Organisations Banking * The Royal Bank of Scotland, a retail banking subsidiary of NatWest Group ** RBS International, the offshore banking arm of NatWest Group Education * Regent's Business School * Rotterdam Business School ...

and the

pulsar A pulsar (from ''pulsating radio source'') is a highly magnetized rotating neutron star that emits beams of electromagnetic radiation out of its magnetic poles. This radiation can be observed only when a beam of emission is pointing toward E ...

PSR B1237+25. RBS 1223 is a member of

the Magnificent Seven ''The Magnificent Seven'' is a 1960 American Western film directed by John Sturges. The screenplay by William Roberts is a remake – in an Old West–style – of Akira Kurosawa's 1954 Japanese film '' Seven Samurai'' (itself initially ...

, a group of young neutron stars. In 1975, the first extra-solar source of

extreme ultraviolet Extreme ultraviolet radiation (EUV or XUV) or high-energy ultraviolet radiation is electromagnetic radiation in the part of the electromagnetic spectrum spanning wavelengths from 124 nm down to 10 nm, and therefore (by the Planck–E ...

, the white dwarf

HZ 43 The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or Cycle per second, cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, me ...

, was discovered in Coma Berenices. In 1995, there was a very rare outburst of the WZ Sagittae-type

dwarf nova A U Geminorum-type variable star, or dwarf nova (pl. novae) is one of several types of cataclysmic variable star, consisting of a close binary star system in which one of the components is a white dwarf that accretes matter from its companion. ...

AL Comae Berenices AL, Al, Ål or al may stand for: Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Al (''Aladdin'') or Aladdin, the main character in Disney's ''Aladdin'' media * Al (''EastEnders''), a minor character in the British soap opera * Al (''Fullmetal ...

. A June 2003 outburst from

GO Comae Berenices Go, GO, G.O., or Go! may refer to: Arts and entertainment Games and sport * Go (game), a board game for two players * ''Travel Go'' (formerly ''Go – The International Travel Game''), a game based on world travel * Go, the starting position l ...

, an SU Ursae Majoris-type dwarf nova, was photometrically observed.

Exoplanets

Coma Berenices has seven known

exoplanet An exoplanet or extrasolar planet is a planet outside the Solar System. The first possible evidence of an exoplanet was noted in 1917 but was not recognized as such. The first confirmation of detection occurred in 1992. A different planet, init ...

s. One,

HD 108874 b HD 108874 b is a gas giant announced in 2003. The orbit lies in the star's habitable zone. It is expected that any moons orbiting this planet are enriched in carbon, and are thus quite different from the silicate-rich bodies in the Solar System ...

, has Earth-like

insolation Solar irradiance is the power per unit area ( surface power density) received from the Sun in the form of electromagnetic radiation in the wavelength range of the measuring instrument. Solar irradiance is measured in watts per square metre ...

WASP-56 WASP-56 is a sun-like star of spectral type G6 in the constellation of Coma Berenices. It has an apparent magnitude of 11.48. Observations at the Calar Alto Observatory using the lucky imaging technique detected a candidate companion st ...

is a sun-like star of spectral type G6 and apparent magnitude 11.48 with a planet 0.6 the mass of

Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined, but slightly less than one-thousandt ...

that has a period of 4.6 days.

Star clusters

Coma Star Cluster

The

represents Berenice's sacrificed tresses and as a naked eye object has been known since antiquity, appearing in Ptolemy's ''

''. It doesn't have a Messier or NGC designation, but is in the Melotte catalogue of open clusters (designated Melotte 111) and is also catalogued as Collinder 256. It is a large, diffuse

of about 50 stars ranging between magnitudes five and ten, including several of Coma Berenices' stars which are visible to the naked eye. The cluster is spread over a huge region (more than five degrees across) near Gamma Comae Berenices. It has such a large apparent size because it is relatively close, only 280 light-years or 86 parsecs away.

Globular clusters

M53 (NGC 5024) is a

which was discovered independently by

Johann Elert Bode Johann Elert Bode (; 19 January 1747 – 23 November 1826) was a German astronomer known for his reformulation and popularisation of the Titius–Bode law. Bode determined the orbit of Uranus and suggested the planet's name. Life and career B ...

in 1775 and

Charles Messier Charles Messier (; 26 June 1730 – 12 April 1817) was a French astronomer. He published an astronomical catalogue consisting of 110 nebulae and star clusters, which came to be known as the ''Messier objects''. Messier's purpose f ...

in February 1777;

William Herschel Frederick William Herschel (; german: Friedrich Wilhelm Herschel; 15 November 1738 – 25 August 1822) was a German-born British astronomer and composer. He frequently collaborated with his younger sister and fellow astronomer Carolin ...

was the first to resolve it into stars. The magnitude-7.7 cluster is 56,000 light-years from Earth. Only 1° away is

NGC 5053 NGC 5053 is the ''New General Catalogue'' designation for a globular cluster in the northern constellation of Coma Berenices. It was discovered by German-British astronomer William Herschel on March 14, 1784 and cataloged as VI-7. In his abbrev ...

, a globular cluster with a sparser nucleus of stars. Its total luminosity is the equivalent of about 16,000 suns, one of the lowest luminosities of any globular cluster. It was discovered by William Herschel in 1784.

is a somewhat dimmer globular cluster, with a much-smaller apparent size and an apparent magnitude of 10.7.

Galaxies

Coma Supercluster

The Coma Supercluster, itself part of the Coma Filament, contains the

Coma A coma is a deep state of prolonged unconsciousness in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to respond normally to painful stimuli, light, or sound, lacks a normal wake-sleep cycle and does not initiate voluntary actions. Coma patients exhi ...

and

Leo Cluster The Leo Cluster ( Abell 1367) is a galaxy cluster about 330 million light-years distant ( z = 0.022) in the constellation Leo, with at least 70 major galaxies. The galaxy known as NGC 3842 is the brightest member of this cluster. Along with the ...

of galaxies. The Coma Cluster (

Abell Abell may refer to: People *Abell (surname) * George O. Abell, of the astronomical catalogues fame Places ;United States * Abell, Maryland, a location in St. Mary's County, Maryland * Abell, a neighborhood in Baltimore, Maryland * Abells Corners ...

1656) is 230 to 300 million light-years away. It is one of the largest-known clusters, with at least 10,000 galaxies (mainly elliptical, with a few

spiral galaxies Spiral galaxies form a class of galaxy originally described by Edwin Hubble in his 1936 work ''The Realm of the Nebulae'' Due to its distance from Earth, most of the galaxies are visible only through large telescopes. Its brightest members are NGC 4874 and

NGC 4889 NGC 4889 (also known as Caldwell 35) is an E4 supergiant elliptical galaxy. It was discovered in 1785 by the British astronomer Frederick William Herschel I, who catalogued it as a bright, nebulous patch. The brightest galaxy within the northern ...

, both with a magnitude of 13; most others are magnitude 15 or dimmer. NGC 4889 is a giant elliptical galaxy with one of the largest-known

black hole A black hole is a region of spacetime where gravity is so strong that nothing, including light or other electromagnetic waves, has enough energy to escape it. The theory of general relativity predicts that a sufficiently compact mass can defo ...

s (21 billion

solar mass The solar mass () is a standard unit of mass in astronomy, equal to approximately . It is often used to indicate the masses of other stars, as well as stellar clusters, nebulae, galaxies and black holes. It is approximately equal to the mass o ...

es), and NGC 4921 is the cluster's brightest spiral galaxy. After observing the Coma Cluster, astronomer

Fritz Zwicky Fritz Zwicky (; ; February 14, 1898 – February 8, 1974) was a Swiss astronomer. He worked most of his life at the California Institute of Technology in the United States of America, where he made many important contributions in theoretical and ...

first postulated the existence of

dark matter Dark matter is a hypothetical form of matter thought to account for approximately 85% of the matter in the universe. Dark matter is called "dark" because it does not appear to interact with the electromagnetic field, which means it does not ab ...

during the 1930s. The massive galaxy Dragonfly 44 discovered in 2015 was found to consist almost entirely of dark matter. Its mass is very similar to that of the

Milky Way The Milky Way is the galaxy that includes our Solar System, with the name describing the galaxy's appearance from Earth: a hazy band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars that cannot be individually distinguished by the naked ey ...

, but it emits only 1% of the light emitted by the Milky Way. NGC 4676, sometimes called the

Mice Galaxies NGC 4676, or the Mice Galaxies, are two spiral galaxies in the constellation Coma Berenices. About 290 million light-years distant, they have begun the process of colliding and merging. Their name refers to the long tails produced by tidal action� ...

, is a pair of interacting galaxies 300 million light-years from Earth. Its progenitor galaxies were

spiral In mathematics, a spiral is a curve which emanates from a point, moving farther away as it revolves around the point. Helices Two major definitions of "spiral" in the American Heritage Dictionary are:star formation Star formation is the process by which dense regions within molecular clouds in interstellar space, sometimes referred to as "stellar nurseries" or "star-forming regions", collapse and form stars. As a branch of astronomy, star formation includ ...

in both galaxies, with long "tails" of dust, stars and gas. The two progenitor galaxies are predicted to interact significantly at least one more time before they merge into a larger, probably- elliptical galaxy.

Virgo Cluster

25 years of stunning definition Messier 100

Coma Berenices contains the northern portion of the

Virgo Cluster The Virgo Cluster is a large cluster of galaxies whose center is 53.8 ± 0.3 Mly (16.5 ± 0.1 Mpc) away in the constellation Virgo. Comprising approximately 1,300 (and possibly up to 2,000) member galaxies, the cluster forms the heart of the l ...

(also known as the Coma–Virgo Cluster), about 60 million light-years away. The portion includes six Messier galaxies. M85 (NGC 4382), considered elliptical or lenticular, is one of the cluster's brighter members at magnitude nine. M85 is interacting with the spiral galaxy

NGC 4394 NGC 4394 is a SBb barred spiral galaxy in the constellation Coma Berenices and is situated about 39.5 million light-years (12.1 megaparsecs) from Earth. It was discovered on 14 March 1784 by the German–British astronomer William Herschel. I ...

and the elliptical galaxy MCG-3-32-38. However, it is relatively isolated from the rest of the cluster. M88 (NGC 4501) is a multi-arm spiral galaxy seen at about 30° from edge-on. It has a highly-regular shape with well-developed, symmetrical arms. Among the first galaxies recognized as spiral, it has a

supermassive black hole A supermassive black hole (SMBH or sometimes SBH) is the largest type of black hole, with its mass being on the order of hundreds of thousands, or millions to billions of times the mass of the Sun (). Black holes are a class of astronomical obj ...

in its center. M91 (NGC 4548), a

barred spiral galaxy A barred spiral galaxy is a spiral galaxy with a central bar-shaped structure composed of stars. Bars are found in about two thirds of all spiral galaxies, and generally affect both the motions of stars and interstellar gas within spiral galaxies ...

with a bright, diffuse nucleus, is the faintest object in Messier's catalog at magnitude 10.2. M98 (NGC 4192), a bright, elongated spiral galaxy seen nearly edge-on, appears elliptical because of its unusual angle. The magnitude-10 galaxy has no

redshift In physics, a redshift is an increase in the wavelength, and corresponding decrease in the frequency and photon energy, of electromagnetic radiation (such as light). The opposite change, a decrease in wavelength and simultaneous increase in f ...

. M99 (NGC 4254) is a

spiral galaxy Spiral galaxies form a class of galaxy originally described by Edwin Hubble in his 1936 work ''The Realm of the Nebulae'' M100 (NGC 4321), a magnitude-nine spiral galaxy seen face-on, is one of the cluster's brightest. Photographs reveal a brilliant core, two prominent spiral arms, an array of secondary arms and several

dust lane A dust lane consists of a relatively dense, obscuring clouds of interstellar dust, observed as a dark swath against the background of a brighter object(s), especially a galaxy. These dust lanes can usually be seen in spiral galaxies, such as th ...

Other galaxies

M64 (NGC 4826) is known as the Black Eye Galaxy because of the prominent dark

in front of the galaxy's bright nucleus. Also known as the Sleeping Beauty and Evil Eye galaxy, it is about 17.3 million light-years away. Recent studies indicate that the

interstellar gas In astronomy, the interstellar medium is the matter and radiation that exist in the space between the star systems in a galaxy. This matter includes gas in ionic, atomic, and molecular form, as well as dust and cosmic rays. It fills interstella ...

in the galaxy's outer regions rotates in the opposite direction from that in the inner regions, leading astronomers to believe that at least one satellite galaxy collided with it less than a billion years ago. All other evidence of the smaller galaxy has been assimilated. At the interface between the clockwise- and counterclockwise-rotating regions are many new

e and young stars. NGC 4314 is a face-on

at a distance of 40 million light-years. It is unique for its region of intense star formation, creating a ring around its nucleus which was discovered by the

. The galaxy's prodigious star formation began five million years ago, in a region with a diameter of 1,000 light-years. The core's structure is also unique because the galaxy has spiral arms which feed gas into the bar.

NGC 4414 NGC 4414 is an unbarred spiral galaxy about 62 million light-years away in the constellation Coma Berenices. It is a flocculent spiral galaxy, with short segments of spiral structure but without the dramatic well-defined spiral arms of a g ...

is an unbarred spiral flocculent galaxy about 62 million light-years away. It is one of the closest flocculent spiral galaxies. NGC 4565 is an edge-on spiral galaxy which appears superimposed on the Virgo Cluster. NGC 4565 has been nicknamed the Needle Galaxy because when seen in full, it appears as a narrow streak of light. Like many edge-on spiral galaxies, it has a prominent dust lane and a central bulge. NGC 4565 has at least two

satellite galaxies A satellite galaxy is a smaller companion galaxy that travels on bound orbits within the gravitational potential of a more massive and luminous host galaxy (also known as the primary galaxy). Satellite galaxies and their constituents are bound t ...

, and one of them is interacting with it.

NGC 4651 New General Catalogue, NGC 4651 is a spiral galaxy, spiral galaxy located in the constellation of Coma Berenices that can be seen with amateur astronomy, amateur telescopes, at a distance not well determined that ranges from 35 million light yea ...

, about the size of the

, has tidal

stellar stream In astronomy, stellar kinematics is the observational study or measurement of the kinematics or motions of stars through space. Stellar kinematics encompasses the measurement of stellar velocities in the Milky Way and its satellites as well as t ...

s gravitationally stripped from a smaller, satellite galaxy. It is about 62 million light-years away. It is located on the outskirts of the cluster, and is also known as the Umbrella Galaxy. Unlike the other spiral galaxies in the cluster, NGC 4651 is rich in neutral hydrogen, which also extends beyond the

optical Optics is the branch of physics that studies the behaviour and properties of light, including its interactions with matter and the construction of instruments that use or detect it. Optics usually describes the behaviour of visible, ultrav ...

disk. Its

star formation Star formation is the process by which dense regions within molecular clouds in interstellar space, sometimes referred to as "stellar nurseries" or "star-forming regions", collapse and form stars. As a branch of astronomy, star formation includ ...

is typical for a galaxy of its type. Spiral galaxy

discovered in 1986 is the first-known giant low-surface-brightness galaxy. With

UGC 1382 UGC may refer to: Science and technology * Universal gravitational constant G, in physics * Uppsala General Catalogue, an astronomical catalogue of galaxies * UGC, a codon for cysteine * Unique games conjecture, a conjecture in computational comp ...

, it is also one of the largest low-surface-brightness galaxies. In 2006 a

dwarf galaxy A dwarf galaxy is a small galaxy composed of about 1000 up to several billion stars, as compared to the Milky Way's 200–400 billion stars. The Large Magellanic Cloud, which closely orbits the Milky Way and contains over 30 billion stars, is s ...

, also named

Coma Berenices Coma Berenices is an ancient asterism in the northern sky, which has been defined as one of the 88 modern constellations. It is in the direction of the fourth galactic quadrant, between Leo and Boötes, and it is visible in both hemisphe ...

, was discovered in the constellation from data obtained by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. The galaxy is a faint satellite of the Milky Way. It is one of the faintest satellites of the

Galaxy] - its integrated

luminosity Luminosity is an absolute measure of radiated electromagnetic power (light), the radiant power emitted by a light-emitting object over time. In astronomy, luminosity is the total amount of electromagnetic energy emitted per unit of time by a s ...

is about times that of the Sun (absolute visible magnitude of about −4.1), which is lower than many

s. A high mass to light ratio may mean that the satellite has large amounts of

. File:NGC 4789A, a subtle swarm.jpg, Dwarf irregular galaxy

NGC 4789A NGC commonly refers to: * New General Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars, a catalogue of deep sky objects in astronomy NGC may also refer to: Companies * NGC Corporation, name of US electric company Dynegy, Inc. from 1995 to 1998 * Nat ...

, alt=Diffuse galaxy File:Needle Galaxy 4565.jpeg, alt=Galaxy resembling an angled needle, NGC 4565 (Needle Galaxy) File:Small ngc4651.jpg, alt=Spiral galaxy with streams of light, NGC 4651, with umbrella-shaped stellar streams

Quasars

HS 1216+5032 HS or Hs can stand for: Businesses and brands * HS Produkt, a Croatian firearms manufacturer * ''Helsingin Sanomat'', a newspaper in Finland * Hawker Siddeley, aircraft manufacturing group * Henschel & Son, in aircraft prefixes; e.g., Hs 117 * ...

is a bright, gravitationally lensed pair of

quasar A quasar is an extremely luminous active galactic nucleus (AGN). It is pronounced , and sometimes known as a quasi-stellar object, abbreviated QSO. This emission from a galaxy nucleus is powered by a supermassive black hole with a mass rangin ...

s. W Comae Berenices (or ON 231), a

blazar A blazar is an active galactic nucleus (AGN) with a relativistic jet (a jet composed of ionized matter traveling at nearly the speed of light) directed very nearly towards an observer. Relativistic beaming of electromagnetic radiation from t ...

in the constellation's northwest, was originally designated a variable star and later found to be a BL Lacertae object. As of 2009, it had the most intense

gamma ray A gamma ray, also known as gamma radiation (symbol γ or \gamma), is a penetrating form of electromagnetic radiation arising from the radioactive decay of atomic nucleus, atomic nuclei. It consists of the shortest wavelength electromagnetic wav ...

spectrum of the sixty known gamma-ray blazars.

Gamma-ray bursts

Some

gamma-ray burst In gamma-ray astronomy, gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are immensely energetic explosions that have been observed in distant galaxies. They are the most energetic and luminous electromagnetic events since the Big Bang. Bursts can last from ten milli ...

s occurred in Coma Berenices, particularly

GRB 050509B GRB 050509B was a gamma-ray burst (GRB) observed by the NASA Swift satellite on May 9, 2005. It was the first short duration GRB for which an accurate positional measurement was made, accurate enough to locate it near to an elliptical galaxy ly ...

on 9 May 2005 and GRB 080607 on 7 June 2008. GRB 050509B, which lasted only 0.03 second, became the first short burst with a detected

afterglow An afterglow in meteorology consists of several atmospheric optical phenomena, with a general definition as a broad arch of whitish or pinkish sunlight in the twilight sky, consisting of the bright segment and the purple light. Purple light ma ...

Meteor shower

The

meteor shower peaks around 18 January. Despite the shower's low intensity (averaging one or two meteors per hour) its meteors are some of the fastest, with speeds up to .

In culture

The hair of Berenice, by Luis Ricardo Faléro

Since Callimachus' poem, Coma Berenices has been occasionally featured in culture.

Alexander Pope Alexander Pope (21 May 1688 O.S. – 30 May 1744) was an English poet, translator, and satirist of the Enlightenment era who is considered one of the most prominent English poets of the early 18th century. An exponent of Augustan literature, ...

alludes to the legend in the ending of ''

The Rape of the Lock ''The Rape of the Lock'' is a mock-heroic narrative poem written by Alexander Pope. One of the most commonly cited examples of high burlesque, it was first published anonymously in Lintot's ''Miscellaneous Poems and Translations'' (May 1712 ...

'', in which the titular hair is placed among the stars. (The poem would go on to provide the names of some of the

moons of Uranus Uranus, the seventh planet of the Solar System, has 27 known moons, most of which are named after characters that appear in, or are mentioned in, the works of William Shakespeare and Alexander Pope. Uranus's moons are divided into three grou ...

.) In 1886, Spanish artist Luis Ricardo Falero created a

mezzotint Mezzotint is a monochrome printmaking process of the '' intaglio'' family. It was the first printing process that yielded half-tones without using line- or dot-based techniques like hatching, cross-hatching or stipple. Mezzotint achieves tona ...

print personifying Coma Berenices alongside Virgo and Leo. In 1892, the Russian poet

Afanasy Fet Afanasy Afanasyevich Fet ( rus, Афана́сий Афана́сьевич Фет, p=ɐfɐˈnasʲɪj ɐfɐˈnasʲjɪvʲɪtɕ ˈfʲɛt, a=Ru-Afanasiy Afanas'yevich Fyet.oga), later known as Shenshin ( rus, Шенши́н, p=ʂɨnˈʂɨn, a=Ru-Afa ...

made the constellation the subject of his short poem, composed for the Countess Natalya Sollogub. The Swedish poet

Gunnar Ekelöf Bengt Gunnar Ekelöf (15 September 1907, in Stockholm – 16 March 1968, in Sigtuna) was a Swedish poet and writer. He was a member of the Swedish Academy from 1958 and was awarded an honorary doctorate in philosophy by Uppsala University in 1958. ...

wrote the lines "Your friend the comet combed his hair with the

Leonids The Leonids ( ) are a prolific meteor shower associated with the comet Tempel–Tuttle, which are also known for their spectacular meteor storms that occur about every 33 years. The Leonids get their name from the location of their radiant i ...

/ Berenice let her hair hang down from the sky" in a 1933 poem. American writer and folksinger

Richard Fariña Richard George Fariña (Spanish IPA: ) (March 8, 1937 – April 30, 1966) was an American folksinger, songwriter, poet and novelist. Early years and education Fariña was born in Brooklyn, New York, United States, the son of an Irish mother, T ...

mentions Coma Berenices in his 1966 novel '' Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up To Me'', sardonically writing about content typical to upper-level astronomy coursework at

Cornell Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teac ...

: "It's the advanced courses give you trouble. Relativity principles, spiral nebula in Coma Berenices, that kind of hassle". The Bolivian poet, Pedro Shimose, makes Coma Berenices the home address of his "Señorita NGC 4565" in his poem "Carta a una estrella que vive en otra constelación" ("Letter to a star who lives in another constellation"), included in his 1967 collection, "Sardonia". " The Irish poet W. B. Yeats, in his poem "Her Dream", refers to "Berenice's burning hair" being "nailed upon the night". Francisco Guerrero, a 20th-century Spanish composer, wrote an orchestral work on the constellation in 1996. In 1999 Irish artist

Alice Maher Alice Maher (born 1956) is a contemporary Irish artist working in a variety of media, including sculpture, photography and installation. Education Maher was born in Kilmoyler, near Bansha, County Tipperary and received her early education at ...

made a series of four oversize drawings, entitled ''Coma Berenices'', of entwining black hair coils.

Notes

References

External links

The Deep Photographic Guide to the Constellations: Coma Berenices

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Coma Berenices Northern constellations Ptolemaic Kingdom in popular culture IAU constellations