The Coma Berenices Star Cluster, Melotte 111

Right Ascension	12 : 25: (h:m)
Declination	+26 : (deg:m)
Distance	0.288 (kly)
Visual Brightness	1.8 (mag)
Apparent Dimension	275 (arc min)

This large and conspicuous cluster was first cataloged by Ptolemy; it is scattered over an area of about 4.5 degrees diameter. Although conspicuous, it was neither included in Messier's nor in the NGC catalog, because its nature as a true, physical cluster was proven only by R.J. Trumpler who identified 37 stars as true cluster members.

The Coma star cluster is currently neither approaching nor receding from us, i.e. it moves tangentially to us with a velocity directed to position angle PA=218 deg, visible as a proper motion of 0.02 arc seconds per year. So member stars are easily identified by having this proper motion and no Doppler shift in their spectra. Its distance has recently been refined by data of ESA's astrometric satellite Hipparcos, and is now estimated at 288 light years (previous estimate was 260).

The Sky Catalog 2000 gives an age of 400 million years, and the brightest star as of apparent magnitude 4.35, the hottest spectral type of A0.

Our image was obtained by amateur Jack Schmidling. More images from Jack Schmidling

In John Caldwell's observing list.

Last Modification: 25 May 1999, 16:35 MET