Astronomy

oma Berenices (Berenice’s Hair), that delicate web of starlight tickling Leo

the Lion’s tail, harbors a f leet of galaxies strewn with deep-sky objects. There

are too many to detail here, but I’ve combed through the celestial hair and

picked out a choice selection of intriguing objects that can please observers

using everything from the unaided eye to monster Dobsonians. And for

diversity, I will focus our attention on some deep-sky objects off the well-

trodden path of backyard searches, steering away from the brighter Messier

objects (M53, M64, M85, and M100), as well as the wild scattering of galaxies that Coma con-

tributes to the extension of Markarian’s Chain in the Virgo Cluster of galaxies.

Let’s start our tour with one of the most overlooked deep-sky objects in the heavens: open

cluster M e l o t t e 111. At a distance of 288 light-years, it ranks as the third-closest star cluster

to the Sun — only the Ursa Major moving group and the Hyades are closer — as well as one

of the largest. Its 270 members form a loose aggregation that stretches nearly 5 ̊ across the sky.

You’ll find the brightest members huddled around a wishbone-shaped star pattern in the

Hair’s crown formed by Gamma (γ, a foreground star), and cluster members 12, 13, 14, 16, and

17 Com. Sweeping this region with binoculars fractures Melotte 111 into tiny patterns that

seem to f loat in the darkness like letters in alphabet soup.

We can now use the stars of the wishbone as stepping-stones to other celestial wonders.

Start by centering Gamma Com in your telescope. This orange giant star, 170 light-years dis-

tant, shares the field with 11th-magnitude NGC 4448, about 30' to the northeast. Look for a

dim, 3'-long spindle of light (oriented east to west) with a noticeable core. A 1½ ̊ slide west of

Gamma takes you to the 6.5-magnitude stars 9 and 10 Com; center 9 Com in your

WWW.ASTRONOMY.COM 53

C

NGC 4565 is

one of the best

edge-on galaxies in

the sky, easily visible

through moderate-

sized telescopes. ADAM

BLOCK/MOUNT LEMMON SKYCENTER/

UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA