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Hawaiian Astronomical Society
Constellations: Coma Berenices -- An Egyptian Queen's Hair
Queen Berenice was the wife
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Hawaiian Astronomical Society
Constellations: Coma Berenices -- An Egyptian Queen's Hair
Queen Berenice was the wife of King Ptolemy III Euergetes (Benefactor) of Egypt. Berenice was quite famous for her beauty. She possessed beautiful, long amber tresses which she was really proud of.
War raged between the Egyptians and the Seleucids, and as the leader of the country, Ptolemy himself lead his troops in battle (he was avenging the death of his sister). Berenice (meaning "bringer of victory" in Greek) was deeply concerned for her husband's safety, and prayed every day for his return. She also asked the royal oracle Conon what to do. Conon advised the queen to offer her beautiful hair to Aphrodite (the goddess of love and beauty) for the safe return of her husband. Berenice did not hesitate, she was willing to sacrifice anything for her dear husband. Berenice cut her hair immediately and put her offering on the Altar of Aphrodite.
King Ptolemy returned home safely that evening. But Berenice's offering had disappeared by the dawn next morning. Upset, Berenice and Ptolemy demanded an explanation from Conon. The oracle waited till nightfall and took them outside under the clear dark skies. He pointed at the area between Leo and Bootes, and said "Look over there! Your offering is right there in the heavenly sky now. Zeus and Aphrodite were touched by your warm-hearted gesture, so the gods placed your hair in heaven to be admired by everyone." The royal couple lived happily ever after. You can still see Berenice's hair (Coma Berenices) in the spring sky.
Isn't that a lovely story? Isn't Berenice sweet? Well, no, she wasn't. The daughter of Magas of Cyrene (present day Libya), her marriage to Ptolemy in 245 B.C. served a political purpose, uniting Egypt and Cyrene. Magas opposed the union and brought in Prince Demetrius the Fair of Macedon to marry her. Berenice was nothing if not determined. She removed the obstacle to her marriage with Ptolemy by poisoning Demetrius. Still, she was reconciled to her father enough to plot later with him against her son, then ruling as Ptolemy IV Philopater (lover of his father). He did not particularly like his mother, though. Instead he had her killed, along with his uncle and brother (another Magas). He then married his sister (Arsinoe). Ah love.
Click the map for a 909x1199 version of the above. Click here for a map better suited for use in the field.
This is a more detailed view of the constellation. The map displays stars to magnitude 10, and deepsky objects to magnitude 12. Click here for a map better suited for use in the field.
Click here for a map better suited for use in the field.
| 95k JPEG NGC4889 (Caldwell 35) is a fairly bright (mag. 11.4), somewhat elongated (2.8'x2'), elliptical galaxy, located in the center of the photograph. It sits 2.6° west of Beta Comae Berenices. Just another dull, uninspired fuzzy, but what a field! Just to the right (west) is NGC 4874 (mag. 13.1). To the left (east) and a little down (south) lies NGC4921 (mag. 13). NGC4911 (mag. 13.6) lies a little down and to the right of 4921. All these might be glimpsed with a 6" at a dark site. The photo shows dozens more. A big scope could have a field day. Slightly under a 1° field image from the Digital Sky Survey.
More difficult are two companions. NGC4712 lies just 12' west of NGC4725. It is another spiral described as very faint (mag. 13.1), fairly large (2.5'x1.1'), and elongated.
NGC4747 lies 24' NE of NGC4725. It is faint (mag. 12.8), fairly large (3.4'x1.1'), and elongated. Burnham's reports a filament extending to the NE.
Image on the left is by Adrian Catterall. I was taken with a 5", f6 Astrophysics refractor with an ST7. It includes NGCs 4725, and 4712. Image to the right is processed from the Digital Sky Survey, and includes all three objects.
| 20k JPEGNGC4565 (Best 30, Caldwell 38) is tough to find. With an equatorial mount, sweeping 15.4° south from Chara (Beta Canum Venaticorum) works best. Visually, it forms a right triangle with Chara and Rasalas (Mu Leonis), 37° to the west. It also sits 3° south-west of Gamma Comae. Dreyer calls it a very remarkable object. It is the premier edge on galaxy, complete with dark lane and central bulge, shining at mag. 10.2, with a size of 15.85'x2.14'. A 13" will show details in the dark lane. The somewhat less edge on NGC4559 sits 2° to the north.
NGC4494 (Best 28), an elliptical galaxy, lies just ove