Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog

This is Ephemeris for Tuesday, April 19th. Today the Sun will be up for 13 hours and 41 minutes, setting at 8:32, and it will rise tomorrow at 6:49. The Moon, 3 days past full, will rise at 12:37 tomorrow morning.

High in the southeast at 10 p.m. is a tiny and faint constellation of Coma Berenices, or Berenice’s Hair. In it are lots of faint stars arrayed to look like several strands of hair to the naked eye. The whole group will fit in the field of a pair of binoculars, which will also show many more stars. The story behind it was that Berenice was a real Queen of Egypt, whose husband was away at war. This was in the days when the Greeks ruled Egypt after Alexander conquered it. She offered her golden tresses to the gods for the king’s safe return. The hair, was placed in a temple. However, the offering disappeared when the king returned. Ever since then, the constellation of Coma Berenices has been seen to commemorate the queen’s sacrifice.

The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EDT, UT – 4 hours). They may be different for your location.

Addendum

Coma Berenices and neighboring constellations at 10 p.m. in mid-April. Note that only the upper right star of the upside down L shape actually belongs to the cluster. Click on the image to enlarge it. Created using Stellarium.

Approximate 7 power binocular field of view (FOV) of the Coma Berenices Cluster. Created using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts).