COMA BERENICES CLUSTER

Though only 283 light years away, the Coma Berenices star cluster still appears faint to the eye. Spread out to the south of the modern constellation Canes Venatici (which itself is just south of the handle of the Big Dipper), this beautiful cluster is the most prominent part of the modern constellation of Coma Berenices, Berenices Hair. Only the central part within the modern boundaries of the constellation is shown here, and it contains only one star with a Greek letter name (Alpha Comae Berenices is well off the picture to the left). The North Galactic Pole (NGP), defined by the perpendicular to the plane of our Galaxy, is toward the upper left hand corner. It is nicely marked by 31 Comae, "Polaris Galacticus Borealis."