Coma Berenices has been recognized as anasterism since theHellenistic period[3] (or much earlier, according to some authors), and is the onlymodern constellation named for an historic figure.[4] It was introduced to Western astronomy during the third century BC byConon of Samos, the court astronomer of Egyptian rulerPtolemy III Euergetes, to honour Ptolemy's consort,Berenice II.[5] Berenice vowed to sacrifice her long hair as avotive offering if Ptolemy returned safely from battle during theThird Syrian War.[6] 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 poetCallimachus during a public evening ceremony.[7] 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 poetCatullus, and inHyginus'De Astronomica, she dedicated her tresses toAphrodite and placed them in thetemple of Arsinoe II (identified after Berenice's death with Aphrodite) atZephyrium. According toDe 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.[6] Callimachus called the asterismplokamos Berenikēs orbostrukhon Berenikēs in Greek, translated into Latin as "Coma Berenices" by Catullus.Hipparchus[8] andGeminus also recognized it as a distinct constellation.[9]Eratosthenes called it "Berenice's Hair" and "Ariadne's Hair", considering it part of the constellationLeo.[10] Similarly,Ptolemy did not include it among his 48 constellations in theAlmagest;[8] considering it part of Leo[3] and calling itPlokamos.[11]
Coma Berenices on Mercator's 1551 celestial globe, in the upper left
Coma Berenices became popular during the 16th century. In 1515, a set ofgores byJohannes Schöner labelled the asterismTrica, "hair". In 1536 it appeared on acelestial globe byCaspar Vopel, who is credited with the asterism's designation as a constellation.[12] That year, it also appeared on a celestial map byPetrus Apianus as "Crines Berenices". In 1551, Coma Berenices appeared on acelestial globe byGerardus Mercator 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.[13]
Tycho Brahe, also credited with Coma's designation as a constellation, included it in his 1602star catalogue.[3] Brahe recorded fourteen stars in the constellation;Johannes Hevelius increased its number to twenty-one, andJohn Flamsteed to forty-three. Coma Berenices also appeared inJohann Bayer's 1603Uranometria, and a few other 17th-century celestial maps followed suit. Coma Berenices and the now-obsoleteAntinous are considered the first post-Ptolemaic constellations depicted on a celestial globe.[14] 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 thesouthern sky and the work of Tycho Brahe.[13]
Before the 18th century Coma Berenices was known in English by several names, including "Berenice's Bush" and "Berenice'speriwig".[15] The earliest-known English name, "Berenices haire", dates to 1601.[15][16] By 1702 the constellation was known as Coma Berenices,[17] and appears as such in the 1731Universal Etymological English Dictionary.
Coma Berenices was known to theAkkadians as Ḫegala.[18] InBabylonian astronomy 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.[19] It was also argued that Coma Berenices appears in EgyptianRamesside star clocks assb3w ꜥš3w, meaning "many stars".[20]
The North AmericanPawnee people depicted Coma Berenices as ten faint stars on atanned elk-skin star map dated to at least the 17th century.[23] In the South AmericanKalina mythology, the constellation was known asombatapo (face).[24]
The constellation was also recognized by severalPolynesian peoples. The people ofTonga had four names for Coma Berenices:Fatana-lua,Fata-olunga,Fata-lalo andKapakau-o-Tafahi.[25] TheBoorong people called the constellationTourt-chinboiong-gherra, and saw it as a small flock of birds drinking rainwater from a puddle in thecrotch of a tree.[26] The people of thePukapuka atoll may have called itTe Yiku-o-te-kiole, although sometimes this name is associated withUrsa Major.[27]
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 the88 constellations by area.[28] The three-letter abbreviation for the constellation, as adopted by theInternational Astronomical Union in 1922, is "Com".[29] The official constellation boundaries, as set by Belgian astronomerEugène Delporte in 1930,[b] are defined by a polygon of 12 segments (illustrated in infobox). In theequatorial coordinate system, theright ascension coordinates of these borders lie between11h 58m 25.09s and13h 36m 06.94s, and thedeclination coordinates are between +13.30° and +33.31°.[1] Coma Berenices is wholly visible to observers north of latitude56°S.[c] and the constellation's midnightculmination occurs on 2 April.[31]
Coma Berenices is not particularly bright, as none of its stars are brighter than fourthmagnitude,[32] although there are 66 stars brighter than or equal toapparent magnitude 6.5.[d][28]
The second-brightest star in Coma Berenices is the 4.3-magnitude, bluishAlpha Comae Berenices (42 Comae Berenices), with theproper name Diadem,[38] in the southeastern part of the constellation. Despite its AlphaBayer designation, the star is dimmer than Beta Comae Berenices, being one of the cases where designation does not correspond to the brightest star. It is adouble star, with the spectral classes of F5V and F6V.[39] The star system is 58.1 ± 0.9 light-years from Earth.[40]
Gamma Comae Berenices (15 Comae Berenices) is an orange-huedgiant star 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,[41] Estimated to be around 1.79 times as massive as the Sun,[42] it has expanded to around 10 times its radius.[43] It is the brightest star in theComa Star Cluster.[44] With Alpha Comae Berenices and Beta Comae Berenices, Gamma Comae Berenices forms a 45-degreeisosceles triangle from which Berenice's imaginary tresses hang.
A number ofsupernovae have been discovered in Coma Berenices. Four (SN 1940B,SN 1969H,SN 1987E andSN 1999gs) were in theNGC 4725 galaxy,[62] and another four were discovered in theM99 galaxy (NGC 4254):SN 1967H,SN 1972Q,SN 1986I andSN 2014L.[62] Five were discovered in theM100 galaxy (NGC 4321):SN 1901B,SN 1914A,SN 1959E,SN 1979C andSN 2006X.[62] SN 1940B, discovered on 5 May 1940, was the first observedtype II supernova.[63]SN 2005ap, discovered on 3 March 2005, is the second-brightest-known supernova to date with a peakabsolute magnitude of about −22.7.[64] 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 originalX-ray brightness for 25 years despite fading in visible light.[65]
Coma Berenices has seven knownexoplanets.[71] One,HD 108874 b, has Earth-likeinsolation.[72]WASP-56 is a sun-like star of spectral type G6 and apparent magnitude 11.48 with a planet 0.6 the mass ofJupiter that has a period of 4.6 days.[73]
TheComa Star Cluster represents Berenice's sacrificed tresses and as a naked eye object has been known since antiquity, appearing in Ptolemy'sAlmagest.[74] It doesn't have a Messier or NGC designation, but is in theMelotte catalogue of open clusters (designated Melotte 111) and is also catalogued as Collinder 256. It is a large, diffuseopen cluster 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) nearGamma Comae Berenices. It has such a large apparent size because it is relatively close, only 280 light-years or 86 parsecs away.[75][76]
M53 (NGC 5024) is aglobular cluster which was discovered independently byJohann Elert Bode in 1775 andCharles Messier in February 1777;William Herschel was the first to resolve it into stars.[57] The magnitude-7.7 cluster is 56,000 light-years from Earth. Only 1° away isNGC 5053, 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.NGC 4147 is a somewhat dimmer globular cluster, with a much-smallerapparent size and an apparent magnitude of 10.7.[77]
TheComa Supercluster, itself part of theComa Filament, contains theComa andLeo Cluster of galaxies. The Coma Cluster (Abell 1656) is 230 to 300 million light-years away. It is one of the largest-known clusters, with at least 10,000 galaxies (mainlyelliptical, with a fewspiral galaxies).[78] Due to its distance from Earth, most of the galaxies are visible only through large telescopes. Its brightest members areNGC 4874 andNGC 4889, 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-knownblack holes (21 billionsolar masses),[79] andNGC 4921 is the cluster's brightest spiral galaxy.[80] After observing the Coma Cluster, astronomerFritz Zwicky first postulated the existence ofdark matter during the 1930s.[78] The massive galaxyDragonfly 44 discovered in 2015 was found to consist almost entirely of dark matter.[81] Its mass is very similar to that of theMilky Way,[81] but it emits only 1% of the light emitted by the Milky Way.[82] NGC 4676, sometimes called theMice Galaxies, is a pair ofinteracting galaxies 300 million light-years from Earth. Its progenitor galaxies werespiral, and astronomers estimate that they had their closest approach about 160 million years ago. That approach triggered large regions ofstar formation 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.[83]
Coma Berenices contains the northern portion of theVirgo Cluster (also known as the Coma–Virgo Cluster), about 60 million light-years away. The portion includes six Messier galaxies.M85 (NGC 4382), consideredelliptical orlenticular, is one of the cluster's brighter members at magnitude nine. M85 is interacting with the spiral galaxyNGC 4394 and the elliptical galaxyMCG-3-32-38.[66] However, it is relatively isolated from the rest of the cluster.[85]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,[86] it has asupermassive black hole in its center.[66]M91 (NGC 4548), abarred spiral galaxy with a bright, diffuse nucleus, is the faintest object in Messier's catalog at magnitude 10.2.[87]M98 (NGC 4192), a bright, elongated spiral galaxy seen nearly edge-on, appears elliptical because of its unusual angle. The magnitude-10 galaxy has noredshift.[88]M99 (NGC 4254) is aspiral galaxy seen face-on. Like M98 it is of magnitude-10 and has an unusually long arm on its west side. Four supernovae have been observed in the galaxy.[89][90][91]M100 (NGC 4321), a magnitude-nine spiral galaxy seen face-on, is one of the cluster's brightest.[59] Photographs reveal a brilliant core, two prominent spiral arms, an array of secondary arms and severaldust lanes.
M64 (NGC 4826) is known as theBlack Eye Galaxy because of the prominent darkdust lane in front of the galaxy's bright nucleus. Also known as the Sleeping Beauty and Evil Eye galaxy,[92] it is about 17.3 million light-years away.[93] Recent studies indicate that theinterstellar gas in the galaxy's outer regions rotates in the opposite direction from that in the inner regions, leading astronomers to believe that at least onesatellite galaxycollided 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 newnebulae and young stars.[83]
NGC 4314 is a face-onbarred spiral galaxy 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 theHubble Space Telescope. 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.[83]
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.[95] Like many edge-on spiral galaxies, it has a prominent dust lane and a central bulge. NGC 4565 has at least twosatellite galaxies, and one of them isinteracting with it.[96]
NGC 4651, about the size of theMilky Way, has tidalstellar streams gravitationally stripped from a smaller, satellite galaxy.[97] It is about 62 million light-years away.[97] It is located on the outskirts of the cluster,[98] 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 theoptical disk.[99] Itsstar formation is typical for a galaxy of its type.[98]
Theconstellation Coma Berenices hosts the galaxyNGC 4495 among myriad other astronomical objects.
The jellyfish galaxy JW39 hangs serenely in this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. This galaxy lies over 900 million light-years away in the constellation Coma Berenices.
TheComa Berenicids meteor shower peaks around 18 January.[52] Despite the shower's low intensity (averaging one or two meteors per hour) its meteors are some of the fastest, with speeds up to 65 kilometres per second (40 mi/s).[52]
Since Callimachus' poem, Coma Berenices has been occasionally featured in culture.Alexander Pope alludes to the legend in the ending ofThe Rape of the Lock, in which the titular hair is placed among the stars. (The poem would go on to provide the names of some of themoons of Uranus.) In 1886, Spanish artistLuis Ricardo Falero created amezzotint print personifying Coma Berenices alongside Virgo and Leo.[109] In 1892, the Russian poetAfanasy Fet made the constellation the subject of his short poem, composed for the Countess Natalya Sollogub.[110] The Swedish poetGunnar Ekelöf wrote the lines "Your friend the comet combed his hair with theLeonids / Berenice let her hair hang down from the sky" in a 1933 poem.[111] American writer and folksingerRichard Fariña mentions Coma Berenices in his 1966 novelBeen Down So Long It Looks Like Up To Me, sardonically writing about content typical to upper-level astronomy coursework atCornell: "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".[112] "[113] The Irish poetW. 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 artistAlice Maher made a series of four oversize drawings, entitledComa Berenices, of entwining black hair coils.[114]
^One other constellation's name isderived from a reference to a historical person: the constellationScutum is a shortening of the former nameScutum Sobiescianum ("shield of Sobieski"), named after KingJohn III Sobieski of Poland. It is called the equivalent of "Shield of Sobieski" in some other languages, such as French.
^Delporte had proposed standardising the constellation boundaries to the International Astronomical Union, who had agreed and gave him the lead role[30]
^While parts of the constellation technically rise above the horizon to observers between 56°S and77°S, stars within a few degrees of the horizon are to all intents and purposes unobservable.[28]
^Objects of magnitude 6.5 are among the faintest visible to the unaided eye in suburban–rural transition night skies.[33]
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