Coma Berenices is a spring constellation that is located between Canes Venatici to the north, Virgo to the south, Boötes to the east, and Leo to the west. Hold your mouse cursor over the image to see constellation figures, boundaries, and star identifications. Coma Berenices means Berenice's Hair. The constellation was named after a real historical figure - Egypt's Queen Berenice II. Berenice was the wife of King Ptolemy III Euergestes. When the king went to war, Berenice promised her hair to Aphrodite, the Greek Goddess of Love, if her husband returned victorious and safe. When he did, she sacrificed her hair. The legend said that Aphrodite then sent Berenice's hair to the stars where it was immortalized in a the story by the Greek Konon of Samos. Berenice died in 221 B.C.E. (Before the Common Era). The North galactic pole is located in Coma Berenices at a right ascension of 12h 51m 26s and a Declination of +27° 07m 42.0" (epoch J2000), 25 arcminutes south of the star 31 Comae Berenices. Alpha Comae Berenices is Diadem, the gem in Berenice's Hair. It shines at magnitude 4.32 and is located 58.1 light-years away and has a spectral class of F5V. Diadem is a close double star with magnitude 5.05 and 5.08 components with an orbital period of 25.8 years that are separated by less than one arcsecond. Beta Comae Berenices, at magnitude 4.23, is actually a little brighter than Alpha. It is located 29.8 light-years distant, with a spectral classification of G0V. Beta Comae Berenices is very similar to our own Sun which as a spectral classification of G2V. Gamma Comae Berenices sines at magnitude 4.35 and is located 167.3 light-years away and has a spectral class of K1III. 24 Comae Berenices is an interesting 5th magnitude double star. The primary is orange K0-type magnitude 5.2 star. The secondary companion is a magnitude 6.57 blue-white A3-type star. The pair are separated by 20 arcseconds at a position angle of 270°. Because the Milky Way lies far from this constellation, Coma Berenices doesn't contain any bright emission or reflection nebulae. It does, however, contain many galaxies such as M64, the Blackeye Galaxy, part of the Virgo - Coma supercluster of galaxies, which includes M85, M88, M91, M98, M99, and M100. The constellation also is home to Melotte 111, the Coma Star Cluster, which is easily observed with the unaided eye, and M53, a globular cluster. In the second century of the common era (C.E.) Coma Berenices was cataloged by the Greek astronomer Ptolemy as an asterism in the constellation of Leo that represented the tuft of the lion's tail. Coma Berenices was first represented as a full constellation by Caspar Vopel on a celestial globe in the 16th century. Tycho Brahe also included Coma Berenices as a constellation in his 1602 star catalog. Coma Berenices is the 42nd largest of today's 88 modern constellations, covering 386 square degrees of sky. North is to the top left in the above image.
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