High in the southern sky around 10 P.M. local daylight time is the constellation Coma Berenices. Look for it to the upper right of the bright star Arcturus in Boötes and to the left of Denebola, the sun marking Leo the Lion’s tail.
Coma Berenices might be a relatively unobtrusive constellation, but it houses a spectacular cluster of distant galaxies, the Coma Cluster. In a 4° area of sky, you’ll find more than 1,000 galaxies, although Astronomy Associate Editor Michael Bakich suggests concentrating on the cluster’s inner 0.5°, where many stunning galaxies are packed in.
To locate the Coma Cluster, scan about 2.7° west of magnitude 4.2 Beta (β) Comae Berenices. The cluster’s brightest galaxy is magnitude 11.5 NGC 4884 (which is also cataloged as NGC 4889). Similarly bright magnitude 11.7 NGC 4874 lies just 7’ west of this galaxy; there are several smaller, fainter galaxies clustered around each of these larger galaxies. Also notably bright is magnitude 11.6 NGC 4793, which lies about 1.5° northwest of this pair.
Sunrise: 5:44 A.M.
Sunset: 8:10 P.M.
Moonrise: —
Moonset: 8:15 A.M.
Moon Phase: Waning gibbous (85%)
*Times for sunrise, sunset, moonrise, and moonset are given in local time from 40° N 90° W. The Moon’s illumination is given at 12 P.M. local time from the same location.
For a look ahead at more upcoming sky events, check out our full Sky This Week column.
