Archive
05/08/2015 – Ephemeris – May’s missing Milky Way
Ephemeris for Friday, May 8th. Today the Sun will be up for 14 hours and 32 minutes, setting at 8:55. The Moon, 3 days before last quarter, will rise at 1:08 tomorrow morning. Tomorrow the Sun will rise at 6:22.
In May we look up to the sky and notice that the Milky Way is missing. Will not really it’s as if the sky has pattern baldness with the Milky Way as a fringe on the horizon around the north half of the sky. Overhead, where none should be is a galactic star cluster, a star cluster that should normally be in the Milky band. That cluster is the constellation of Coma Berenices. Its is a sparse star cluster of about 50 stars only 288 light years away. If we were a thousand light years from it, it would appear in the Milky band. One notes too that the stars of spring are also fewer, not the riot of stars we see in the winter or late summer. The Milky Way galaxy is a thin disk, and in spring we are looking out the thin side.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Star Chart for May 2015. Note the Milky way in the north. The Coma Berenices cluster is located between the labels CnV and Com. Created using my LookingUp program.
Messier objects, mostly galaxies (ovals) in the spring sky. Created using my LookingUp program.
Most of the galaxies in the above chart belong to the Virgo Cluster a cluster of several thousand galaxies about 53 million light years away. Charles Messier was a comet hunter active in the period around the time of the American Revolution at the Paris Observatory. He made a catalog of fuzzy objects he ran into that didn’t move and thus were not comets. The Messier catalog, which ran to 110 galaxies, star clusters and nebulae, some added posthumously, became a must-see list of some of the best sights for the telescope.
4/16/2015 – Ephemeris – A constellation commemorating a real person
Ephemeris for Thursday, April 16th. The Sun rises at 6:57. It’ll be up for 13 hours and 31 minutes, setting at 8:28. The Moon, 2 days before new, will rise at 6:19 tomorrow morning.
Half way up the sky in the east-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. 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.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Coma Berenices and neighboring constellations at 10 p.m. on April 16, 2015. Note that only the upper right star of the upside down L shape actually belongs to the cluster. Created using Stellarium.
04/18/2014 – Ephemeris – The constellation Coma Berenices
Ephemeris for Good Friday, Friday, April 18th. The sun rises at 6:53. It’ll be up for 13 hours and 37 minutes, setting at 8:31. The moon, 3 days past full, will rise at 12:21 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. The whole group will fit in the field of a pair of binoculars, which will also show many more stars. The hank of hair was supposed to belong to Berenice, Queen of Egypt, of the 3rd century BCE. Coma Berenices is the second closest star cluster to us at only 250 light years away, after the Hyades, the face of Taurus the bull now setting in the west. It’s in an odd spot for a galactic star cluster, that’s supposed to lie in the plane of the Milky Way. It actually lies at the galactic pole. That’s an illusion because it’s so close to us. It’s still really in the plane of the Milky Way.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Coma Berenices finder chart for 10 p.m. April 18, 2014. Created using Stellarium.
Coma Berenices and galactic coordinates showing how close to the galactic pole it is. Created using Cartes du Ciel
Mercator projection of the Milky Way and some bright open or galactic clusters (brown disks). See how the distribution hugs the milky band. Clusters farther away are either close to us or very old for open clusters. Created using Cartes du Ciel.
05/07/2013 – Ephemeris – Berenice’s celestial hairdo
Ephemeris for Tuesday, May 7th. The sun rises at 6:24. It’ll be up for 14 hours and 30 minutes, setting at 8:54. The moon, 2 days before new, will rise at 5:33 tomorrow morning.
High in the south 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. 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 the 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.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Coma Berenices via Stellarium
04/17/2012 – Ephemeris – The constellation of Coma Berenices as a star cluster
Ephemeris for Tuesday, April 17th. The sun rises at 6:54. It’ll be up for 13 hours and 36 minutes, setting at 8:30. The moon, half way from last quarter to new, will rise at 5:23 tomorrow morning.
Looking to the southeast these nights can be found the dim constellation of Coma Berenices, or Berenice’s hair. It’s located about half way from the horizon to the zenith. It’s best seen on a moonless night as a sprinkling of faint stars that look like strands of hair. It is a star cluster some 270 light years away, the second closest star cluster to the earth, the closest being the Hyades the marks the face of Taurus the bull, at about 153 light years, which is below, left of Venus tonight in the west. Coma Berenices is located at an odd spot for an open or galactic star cluster. It’s at the pole of the milky way, as far from the milky band as you can get. Most galactic star clusters are close or in that band. However due to its closeness Coma Berenices is abreast of us. as we orbit the center of the Milky Way.
* Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Coma Berenices via Stellarium
Only one star of the three denote the constellation is part of the Coma Berenices star cluster, which appears to trail from the top star.
04/21/11 – Ephemeris – Queen Berenice’s hair
Thursday, April 21st. The sun rises at 6:48. It’ll be up for 13 hours and 45 minutes, setting at 8:34. The moon, 3 days before last quarter, will rise at 1:10 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. 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 the 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.
* Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Coma Berenices via Stellarium
Only one of the three stars that mark the constellation belong to the Coma Berenices star cluster near the top of this image. The cluster is about 270 light years away, making it one of the closest star clusters to us.
Coma Berenice Finder Chart via Stellarium
Here’s a star chart based on this evening at 10 p.m. on locating Coma Berenices in the southeastern sky.
Note: Stellarium is a free program. See the right column for a link.
Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog 