Canes Venatici

Canes Venatici /ˈkeɪniːz vɨˈnætɨsaɪ/ is one of the 88 official modern constellations. It is a small northern constellation that was created by Johannes Hevelius in the 17th century. Its name is Latin for "hunting dogs", and the constellation is often depicted in illustrations as representing the dogs of Boötes the Herdsman, a neighboring constellation. ... Canes Venatici is bordered by Ursa Major to the north and west, Coma Berenices to the south, and Bootes to the east. The three-letter abbreviation for the constellation, as adopted by the International Astronomical Union in 1922, is 'CVn'. ... Stars. Canes Venatici contains no bright stars, α and β CVn being only of 3rd and 4th magnitude respectively. Flamsteed catalogued 25 stars in the constellation, labelling them 1 to 25 Canum Venaticorum, however 1 turned out to be in Ursa Major, 13 was in Coma Berenices and 22 did not exist. α CVn (Asterion, Cor Caroli) is the constellation's brightest star, named by Sir Charles Scarborough in memory of King Charles I, the deposed king of Britain. Legend has it that α CVn was brighter than usual during the Restoration, as Charles II returned to England to take the throne. Cor Caroli is a wide double star, with a primary of magnitude 2.9 and a secondary of magnitude 5.6; the primary is 110 light-years from Earth. The primary also has an unusually strong variable magnetic field. β CVn (Chara) is a yellow-hued main sequence star of magnitude 4.2, 27 light-years from Earth. Its common name comes from the word for "joy". Y CVn (La Superba) is a semiregular variable star that varies between magnitudes 5.0 and 6.5 over a period of around 158 days. It is a carbon star and is famous for being deep red. ... Deep-sky objects. Canes Venatici contains five Messier objects, including four galaxies. One of the more significant galaxies in Canes Venatici is the Whirlpool Galaxy (M51, NGC 5194) and NGC 5195, a small barred spiral galaxy that is seen face on. ... NGC 4631 taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. Other notable spiral galaxies in Canes Venatici are the Sunflower Galaxy (M63, NGC 5055), M94 (NGC 4736), and M106 (NGC 4258). M63, the Sunflower Galaxy, was named for its appearance in large amateur telescopes. ... NGC 4631 is a barred spiral galaxy, which is one of the largest and brightest edge-on galaxies in the sky. M3 (NGC 5272) is a globular cluster 32,000 light-years from Earth. ... M94, also classified as NGC 4736, is a face-on spiral galaxy 15 million light-years from Earth. [Canes Venatici. Wikipedia]