Coma Berenices Constellation Facts

Coma Berenices Star Map

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Coma Berenices Facts

• Coma Berenices is a Latin phrase; the English meaning/translation is berenices hair.
• Coma Berenices's pronunciation is Co-ma Bare-en-ees.
• The genitive form is Comae Berenices, which means any object with Comae Berenices at the end of its name infers a relationship to the constellation. Typically, the thing is within the constellation's boundaries or was once until it (the borders) was redrawn.
• Coma Berenices can be shortened or abbreviated to Com. Coma Berenices is a modern constellation rather than one created by Claudius Ptolemy, such as Aquarius, Leo and Taurus.
• Coma Berenices (Constellation) takes up 386.475 sq. degrees of the night sky, equating to 0.94% of the night sky. Coma Berenices is the 42nd largest constellation in the night sky.
• Eleven Extrasolar Planets in the Coma Berenices constellation are detailed on this site. There is a dedicated page for exoplanets in Coma Berenices.
• Charles Messier catalogued eight deep-space object(s) within the Coma Berenices's boundary.
• The following constellations border Coma Berenices:-
  • Bootes
  • Serpens
  • Hercules

Coma Berenices Stars

Here are a few facts about the stars in the constellation.

• Coma Berenices has three stars that make up the constellation's shape.
• The Hipparcos satellite scanned and detailed one thousand and seventy-six stars.
• You can see seventy-five stars within the Coma Berenices constellation borders with the naked eye on a clear night sky.
• HIP 63721 is Coma Berenices's nearest star, about 15.06 light-years from the Earth.
• The nearest star in Coma Berenices to the Earth with an exoplanet is HD 107146, about 89.56 light-years away.

Beta Comae Berenices

Coma Berenices's brightest star is Beta Comae Berenices, about 29.78 light-years from the Sun. The star is designated as Beta Comae Berenices rather than Alpha designation. Alpha stars tend to be the brightest in the constellation. Beta Comae Berenices has an apparent magnitude of 4.23 but an absolute magnitude of 4.43. The difference between the magnitudes is that absolute magnitude is the object from 10 Parsecs or 32.6 light-years away from the observer, whereas apparent is from Earth.

Coma Berenices Mythology

Although it was known for centuries since Ptolemy, it was believed to be the tail of Leo or part of Virgo. Tycho Brahe is credited with making it a distinct, independent constellation.