High heavenly hair
Believe it or not, there are still a few winter constellations, most notably Gemini the Twins and Auriga the Charioteer, hanging out in the Butler western evening sky, but for the most part, the spring constellations have taken over.
To be honest with you though, they’re not as flashy as those of winter.
There are still many celestial treasures to find, but you just need to visually dig for them a little deeper. That actually can be a lot of fun, especially if you can stargaze in the darker countryside skies.
Last week, I featured the large but faint constellation Virgo the Virgin, now visible in the low southern evening sky. This week, I want to take you to Coma Berenices, a small and faint spring constellation. Its name is Latin for “Berenice’s Lock,” representing the beautiful hair of Queen Berenice of Egypt.
Coma Berenices has a distinction that no other constellation has. The most well-known tale about how the hair wound up in the heavens comes from the Greeks and is based on a true story, but still possesses quite a bit of malarkey. I’ll get to that in a bit.
The three brightest stars of Coma Berenices form a wide arrow pointing at the much brighter and bigger constellation Bootes the Herdsman. Coma Berenice’s hair though, is made up of roughly a Y-shaped cluster of about a dozen stars just off the western side of the arrow.
I think the best way to find it is to face south as darkness sets in and look for the brightest and highest star you can see. That’s Arcturus, a star that has a definite orange-reddish glow to it. Just hold your fist at arm’s length, and about two and a half of your fist-widths to the right of Arcturus is where to start looking for the heavenly hair.
You may need binoculars to help find it, especially if you have to put up with any light pollution. In dark rural skies it should be a piece of cake to spot.
The star cluster that makes up Queen Berenice's hair is made up of very young stars, about 500 million years old. The stars that make up the locks are about 250 light-years away — just down the celestial block from us. Oh, by the way, just 1 light-year equals nearly 6 trillion miles!
Now, back to the story concerning the heavenly hair. Berenice was the queen of Egypt around 200 B.C. and was madly in love with her husband, the famous Pharaoh Ptolemy III. Back in those days, there were many fierce battles, but an upcoming battle against the Assyrians was expected to be especially bloody.
Queen Berenice was scared to death that her king might meet his death. So, she made a deal. She promised the gods that she’d cut off all of her beautiful golden hair and offer it as a sacrifice if Ptolemy returned safely.
Her prayers were answered when Ptolemy returned just a week after he left. It was a tremendous military victory!
True to her word, Berenice sheared off all of her hair and dedicated it to the temple of Aphrodite, the goddess of love. However, within a week, the temple was broken into and thieves made off with the hair. The temple priests were in charge of security and in big, big trouble! They came up with a plan though to save their necks.
The night after the robbery the temple priests requested that Berenice and Ptolemy join them outside to show them something amazing. They pointed high in the sky and showed the royal couple a small but faint cluster of stars and claimed that Aphrodite shot Berenice’s sacrificed hair high into the heavens for everyone worldwide to enjoy. Fortunately for the temple priests, Berenice and Ptolemy swallowed this bull hook, line and sinker.
Every spring, we also can enjoy the heavenly hair in the constellation Coma Berenices, but we know the truth.
Mike Lynch is an amateur astronomer and professional broadcast meteorologist for WCCO Radio in Minneapolis/St. Paul. He is also the author of “Stars: a Month by Month Tour of the Constellations,” published by Adventure Publications and available at bookstores and at adventurepublications.net. Contact him at mikewlynch@comcast.net.
