Mysterious beauty of the night sky excites in the millennia hearts and minds not only astronomers, but also ordinary people. Shine of far stars rivets on itself attention of people and today.
Coma Berenices
Veronika's hair - quite imperceptible constellation, both stars, and the form. Is in the Northern hemisphere in close proximity to an ecliptic. However to the persistent observer who after all will aim to find him, will open to a look the real scattering of far galaxies and an interesting spherical congestion of stars of M 53, located near an alpha (α) of the constellation. Galaxies the Evil eye (M 64) and NGC 4565 are especially remarkable.
The constellation is remarkable a fine congestion of galaxies.
History of the constellation
History of star group reflects really existing people. Beautiful Veronika (Berenika), the wife of the Egyptian tsar Tolomeo III, swore to offer the magnificent hair to the Olympic goddess of love Aphrodite if her spouse returns live of a military campaign. As a result and it happened, however hair from the temple for some reason disappeared. The tsar was going to execute guards of the temple, but the court astronomer Konon Samossky, watching the sky, said that he saw them in the form of the new constellation there though, on his assurances, before it did not exist. So the legend was born that happy Aphrodite placed them on a firmament for general admiring and admiration. By the way, the poetic work of the same name written by the famous poet, the scientist and the bibliographer of antiquity Callimachus was devoted just to this event - stealing of hair from the temple and opening by the wise astronomer of the new constellation. History turned out so popular that later it was translated into Latin by the ancient Roman poet Guy Valeri Katulla.
As the Berenice's Hair constellation looks
The constellation form very simple and differs in nothing special as bright stars are not observed there. In particular, reminds the correct corner of 90 degrees in which the galactic galaxy was stretched. Nevertheless to find Veronika's Hair not so difficult, thanks to constellations neighbors, namely: To Volopas and Lev. Veronika's hair were located east of a bright star Arktur in the constellation Bootes and west of a beta (β) of Lev - Denebola.
It is necessary to watch the constellation by means of the telescope - his naked eye almost does not visible.
It is remarkable that in the constellation there is also North Pole of our galaxy the Milky Way. Beholding beauty of the sky in clear night, it is worth paying attention and to Veronika's Hair that by means of the telescope to try to see personally what was represented to ancient astronomers - fine hair of the beauty Veronika.