La constellation coma berenices It's not pretty at first glance. The neighboring stars are: to the north, Los Perros de Caza or Lebreles (Canes Venatici); to the west the Lion (Leo); to the east the Boyero (Bootes) and to the south, the Virgin (Virgo), which are used as a reference for their respective orientation. In this sense, the constellation coma berenices or also known as Berenices Hair It is located between 11h55m and 13h35m of straight elevation and between +14º and +34º of decline.
Likewise, once this area of the sky is located, we must try to register the isosceles right triangle made by three of the most resplendent stars, however they are only of the fourth extension: α or 42 Com, β or 43 Com and γ or 15 Com.
Regarding the above, the constellation coma berenices does not hold any showy essence, despite the power of the myth and the historical reference of Eratosthenes, who not until 1602, when the great Tycho Brahe gave him a piece of land in the Cosmos. The best representation of being able to estimate its meager attractions is to warn with binoculars with large fields accommodated for night focus or with telescopes of at least 14 cm of hole and eyepieces of small extensions.
On the other hand, it is important to note that the cluster of the constellation Coma Berenices, appreciated from Earth, is around 255 al, being one of the closest to us after those of the Big Dipper and the Hyades.
In addition, it is at the same time a stream of stars, which moves in relation to the Sun with a speed of about 8 km/s in orientation to the well-known constellation of Vela. This is located between stars β Leonis (Denebola) and α Canum Venaticorum (Cor Caroli). Similarly, the shadows of the stars that make up the cluster range from variety A to exemplars K and M.
With a telescope, apart from the cluster alluded to above, an eminent digit of galaxies among the most resplendent of those that usually populate the entire constellation, fundamentally in the south western angle and in the same way in the contiguous constellation of the Virgin.
Constellation coma berenices : Main stars
The constellation Coma Berenices holds the North Galactic Pole, at elevation 12h 51,42m and decay 27°07,8' (Julian epoch 2000). This zone is not exclusively radiant, and has no stars more radiant than those of the fourth expanse. Also, β Comae Berenices It is the brightest star of the stars, with a volume of 4,26. It's basically only slightly brighter than our Sun, which gives us a thought of how the Sun would be distinguished from just a few years, with a tentative figure being 27 light-years.
In another sense, it is significant to show that the second brightest star in the constellation coma berenices is the one that many scientists and amateurs know as Diadema (α Comae Berenices). In this regard, this star has a magnitude of 4,32. Which represents that the outbreak in the crown of Berenice is a star double, that is, it presents two elements of almost equal dimension. Around the above, it is suspected that it is one of two elements obscuring.
On the other hand, a relevant fact is that the last of the stars of the fourth extension in the cconstellation coma berenices is undoubtedly the γ, which has a magnitude of about 4,36.
Essences representative of the sky that are in the Constellation coma berenices
Although the constellation coma berenices is not wide, it holds eight objects Messier. In other words, this constellation is rich in galaxies, as it tames the northern segment of the Virgo cluster. Many of spherical clusters can be distinguished. These entities are very little extinguished by the dust since the constellation is not in the orientation of the astral plane.
This is why it is the case, because of this fact, there are many open clusters (except in the case of the Coma Berenices cluster, which subdues the northern part of the astros), fuzzy nebulae, or celestial nebulae.
Constellation cluster coma berenices
On the other hand, the constellation Coma Berenice cluster does not possess a Messier or NGC choice, but is in the Melotte inventory of outlying clusters, where it is referred to as Melotte 111 (Honey 111). It is a wide, fuzzy open star cluster from the fifth to the tenth dimension, containing many of the Comets visible to the naked eye in the area.
The cluster enjoys an appearance of a monumental zone, more than 5 degrees, next to γ Coma Berenices. Its supposed body is due to the fact that it is respectively adjacent, only 270 light-years from Earth. Earth.
Origin, evolution and mythology of the constellation coma berenices
The constellation Coma Berenices was treated as a asterism since the times of ancient Greece. In this sense, Eratosthenes referred to the constellation as Cabellera de Ariadna and Coma Berenices. While on the other hand, Claudius Ptolemy cited the Copo (of hair); be that as it may, he did not put it in his enumeration of 48 constellations, thinking of it as a part of Leo.
Likewise, for many years, Coma Berenices was practically esteemed as the lump at the end of Leo, and sometimes as a portion of Virgo. Regarding the above, in the XNUMXth century, some maps of the sky narrated two shocking facts, the discovery of two constellations, one of these Coma Berenices. The formation of the constellation is practically imputed to Tycho Brahe, registered as a constellation in his list of 1602. In the same way it appears in Uranometria by Johann Bayer in the year 1603.
However, Coma Berenices is a current constellation, since it is linked to an old legend. It is one of the few constellations (with Scutum) who owe their nickname to a historical image, in this case Queen Berenice II of Egypt.
The truth is that the queen offered the libation of her mane to the goddess Aphrodite for the return of the king from a trip. As the king returned safe and sound, the queen made good on her promise, cut it off and left it in the sanctuary. The next morning her hair was gone. This is why to calm the king and queen, the court astronomer, Conon, warned that the offer had been placed by the goddess in the kingdom. celestial. He showed a star cluster that at the time was identified as Leo's tail, but has since been credited as Coma Berenices.
How did the hair return to heaven to give Coma Berenices a zone?
Legend has it that that night Berenice executed the offering, it was learned that the hair had been removed from the church. Rumors noted a parish priest admirer of Egyptian gods, who exploded in fury as the queen implored a Greek goddess, but there was no proof that it was him and the singular lived irritated by the event.
On the other hand, the astronomer Conón de Samos was able to reassure them, showing them that an aggregate of stars in the form of hair it had emerged that same night in the sky, so it was most possible that Aphrodite had praised the offer of the constellation as Berenices until there.