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Coma Berenices



Abbreviation: Com
Genitive: Comae Berenices
Right Ascension: 12.76 hours
Declination: 21.83 degrees
  Coma Berenices, Bernice's Hair, is visible in the northern hemisphere in spring and summer and may be found between Virgo and Ursa Major.

Bernice's Hair, is the hair of Queen Berenice of Egypt, which became a constellation around 230 B.C.E. When her husband (and brother) Ptolemy Euergetes went off to war, she offered her hair as a sacrifice to the gods, if they would grant him a safe return. He did and she cut off her hair and placed it on the Altar in the temple of Venus. The locks were stolen and placed among the stars, some say Venus herself was the thief, while other think it was just an astronomer named Conon, who made up the whole story in order to comfort Berenice when she heard of the theft. Some other versions of the story said that the hair was turned into a hair-star, or comet. The origns of the constellations actual position in ancient times are actually unknown, some controversy surrounded the location, until Tyco in 1602 settled the matter by recording its present position. The ancients had the constellation overlapping with either Leo's tail or Virgo.

  Bright Stars | Deep Sky | Other Deep Sky | Variable Stars | Double Stars
 

Best Known Stars

(Yale Bright Star Catalog)
 
Common Name
or Bayer Number 1 		RA DEC Magnitude 2
BET COM 13.00:11.00:52.39 +27.00:52.00:41.40 4.26
12 COM 12.00:22.00:30.31 +25.00:50.00:46.08 4.79
23 COM 12.00:34.00:51.06 +22.00:37.00:45.18 4.81
31 COM 12.00:51.00:41.92 +27.00:32.00:26.48 4.94
24 COM 12.00:35.00:7.75 +18.00:22.00:37.33 5.02
20 COM 12.00:29.00:43.23 +20.00:53.00:45.90 5.69
39 COM 13.00:6.00:21.22 +21.00:9.00:12.31 5.99
32 COM 12.00:52.00:12.25 +17.00:4.00:26.04 6.32
3 COM 12.00:10.00:31.62 +16.00:48.00:33.29 6.39
   
 

Deep Sky Objects

(PAS Catalog)

M-100

 Amateurs can see the central regions of this galaxy as faint elliptical patch of uneven texture in small telescopes, or even in good binoculars. Under good observing conditions, suggestions of the inner spiral arms can be glimpsed in telescopes starting at 4 inch aperture (refractor or unobstructed reflector).

M-53

 M-53. A rich globular cluster which forms a pair with the more unusual NGC5053. M53 lies about 1 degree northwest of the binary star Alpha Comae.

M-64

 Photo by Mike Frasca
M-64. The 'Blackeye' Galaxy (NGC 4826) measures 7.5' x 3.5', and can be located about 1 degree ENE from 35 Comae. The structure is unusual and I have to admit the first time I saw it I thought it to be an eye winking at me (maybe it was just late at night). It is rated as one of the brightest spiral galaxies visible. The distance to M64 is between 20 - 25 million light years.

M-85

 It is a luminous lenticular (S0) galaxy; in many respects it seems to be a twin of M84. It seems to consist of an old yellow stellar population only.

M-88

 This bright member of the Virgo Cluster of galaxies is nicely symmetrical and of multiple-arm type. As its equatorial plane is inclined by about 30 degrees to the line of sight, its appearance resembles a bit that of the Andromeda galaxy M31, and its outline is an elongated ellipse of angular dimension between 7x4 to 8x3 arc minutes, according to different sources, corresponding to a linear diameter of about 130,000 light years. This is one of the more rewarding galaxies in the Virgo cluster for smaller instruments!

M-91

 The barred spiral galaxy M91 is an appealing member of the Virgo Cluster of Galaxies. It is of type SBb and its bar is very conspicuous, lying at position angle 65/245 degrees (as measured from the North direction to the East).

M-98

 M-98 is nearly edge-on and displays a chaotic, diffuse disk, containing some blue regions of newly formed stars, and a huge quantity of occulting dust, which reddens considerably the light of the central small but bright nucleus.

M-99

 M-99, although situated in constellation Coma Berenices, is one of the bright spiral members of the Virgo Cluster of galaxies.

NGC-4565

 CCD image by Don Ware
NGC 4565. Palomar has a famous picture of this edge on spiral, and NGC 4565 is probably the largest example of an edge on spiral. It can be found 3 degrees from 17 Comae and less than 3 degrees from the North Galatic Pole. The image is good in small telescopes of 6 inches or more.
   
 

Other Deep Sky Objects

(Saguaro Astronomy Club Catalog)
  Only Objects less than 10.0 Mag.
 
Object R.A. Dec. Object Type 3 Mag. Uranometria Tirion
NGC 4254 12 18.9 +14 26 GALXY 09.9 193 13
NGC 4321 12 23.0 +15 50 GALXY 09.4 193 13
Mel 111 12 25.0 +26 00 OPNCL 01.8 148 07
NGC 4382 12 25.5 +18 12 GALXY 09.1 148 13
NGC 4494 12 31.3 +25 47 GALXY 09.8 148 07
NGC 4501 12 32.1 +14 26 GALXY 09.6 194 13
NGC 4559 12 35.9 +27 58 GALXY 10.0 149 07
NGC 4565 12 36.3 +26 00 GALXY 09.6 149 07
NGC 4725 12 50.4 +25 33 GALXY 09.4 149 07
NGC 4826 12 56.7 +21 41 GALXY 08.5 149 07
NGC 5024 13 12.9 +18 10 GLOCL 07.7 150 14
NGC 5053 13 16.4 +17 42 GLOCL 09.8 150 14
   
 

Variable Stars

(General Catalog of Variable Stars)
  Only Objects <= 8.0 magnitude
 
GCVS ID R.A.
(hh mm ss.ss)		 Dec.
(deg mm ss)		 Variable Type 4 Mag. Min Mag. Max
UU Com 12.00:28.00:30.80 +24.00:50.00:36.00 ACV+DSCTC 5.46 5.41
AI Com 12.00:26.00:25.00 +26.00:11.00:22.00 ACV+DSCT: 5.40 5.23
FM Com 12.00:16.00:30.90 +26.00:17.00:9.00 DSCTC 6.48 6.40
FS Com 13.00:3.00:56.60 +22.00:53.00:2.00 SRB 6.10 5.30
GK Com 11.00:57.00:31.20 +19.00:41.00:53.00 SRB 7.13 6.84
GN Com 12.00:21.00:48.10 +26.00:22.00:32.00 ACV: 5.18 5.15
HH Com 13.00:16.00:14.50 +26.00:37.00:41.00 ACV 7.85 7.77
   
 

Double Stars

(Saguaro Astronomy Club Catalog)
  Only Objects <= 8.0 magnitude
 
Name R.A.
(hh mm.m)		 Dec.
(deg mm)		 Mag 5 Sep 6 PA 7 Tirion Uranometria
STF 1596 12 04.3 21 27 6.0, 7.5 3.70 237 7 148
STF 1633 12 20.6 27 03 7.0, 7.1 9.00 245 7 107/ 108/ 148
STF 21 12 28.9 25 54 5.4, 6.7 145.30 251 7 148/ 149
STF 1657 12 35.1 18 22 5.2, 6.7 20.30 271 13/ 14 148/ 149
STF 23 12 52.2 17 04 6.5, 6.9 196.50 50 13/ 14 149/ 194
H 70 13 30.8 24 14 7.5, 8.0 73.20 258 7 150