COSMOS / CONSTELLATIONS / COM
Coma Berenices (Berenice’s Hair)
The Berenice’s Hair. IAU abbreviation Com.
STAR CHART
KEY FACTS
- IAU abbreviation
- Com
- Latin name / genitive
- Coma Berenices / Comae Berenices
- Position
- Right ascension ≈ 12 h 41 m; declination +14° to +33°
- Visibility from Türkiye
- Visible in full from anywhere in Türkiye. When it crosses the meridian its centre stands about 73° above the horizon from Ankara.
- Best time to observe
- Best placed at 21:00 Türkiye time around 29 May.
- Number of stars
- 69 stars brighter than magnitude 6.5 in the catalogue; 15 brighter than 5 and 0 brighter than 4.
INTERACTIVE LAB
Where is Coma Berenices tonight?
The lab opens for Ankara on today’s date. Drag the time slider through the night; the “Best night” button jumps to the date when the constellation is highest at 21:00 (around 29 May). Change the city to compare the view from elsewhere in Türkiye and around the world.
MYTH, HISTORY AND OBSERVING
The hair that Queen Berenice II of Egypt offered to the gods for her husband’s safe return from war. Regarded in antiquity as the tail of Leo, it became a separate constellation on Mercator’s globe of 1551 and in Tycho Brahe’s catalogue of 1602. The north galactic pole lies here, which is why the Coma Cluster of thousands of galaxies and part of the Virgo Cluster are seen so clearly.
BRIGHTEST STARS
| Star | Magnitude | Distance (light-years) | Spectral type |
|---|---|---|---|
| β Com | 4.23 | 30 | G0V |
| Diadem | 4.32 | 58 | F5V |
| γ Com | 4.35 | 167 | K2IIICN+ |
| 11 Com | 4.72 | 290 | G8III |
| 36 Com | 4.76 | 324 | M0III |
| 12 Com | 4.78 | 295 | F8:p |
| 23 Com | 4.80 | 310 | A0IV |
| 41 Com | 4.80 | 331 | K5III |
Magnitude: apparent brightness; the smaller the number, the brighter the star. Distances derive from parallax measurements and are uncertain for distant stars. Source: HYG v4.1 star catalogue (CC BY-SA 4.0).
SOURCES
Position, visibility and best observing time were computed approximately for this page from the catalogue stars (Ankara, 39.9° N). The 88 constellations were adopted by the IAU in 1922; their boundaries were drawn by Eugène Delporte in 1930.