Constellation, Bernice's Hair
Coma Berenices
The hair of Berenice, a constellation named after a real person. It recalls a queen of Egypt who gave up her hair for her husband’s safe return from war.
From New York on October 13, 2026, the centre of Coma Berenices rises at 4:29 AM, is highest at 12:10 PM (74° above the horizon in the S) and sets at 7:47 PM.
In the 3D sky
The sky over New York turned towards Coma Berenices. Drag to look around.
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Evening visibility over the year
Height of the constellation’s centre above the horizon at 10 pm local time on the 15th of each month, from New York. Above about 30° it is well placed.
Name and history
Berenice II was the queen of Ptolemy III of Egypt. When her husband went to war in Asia, she vowed to give up her hair if he came home victorious. He did, and she placed her hair in a temple. The next day it had gone. The court astronomer Conon of Samos pointed to a misty group of faint stars near the tail of the lion and said the hair had joined the constellations. The disappearance was most likely staged to glorify the king and queen. The court poet Callimachus wrote a poem on the story.
Ptolemy did not count the hair as a constellation of its own and listed it with Leo, as a nebulous mass called the lock. Eratosthenes called it Berenice’s hair, though elsewhere he called it the hair of Ariadne. Caspar Vopel showed it separately on his globe of 1536, Gerardus Mercator did the same in 1551, and Tycho Brahe listed it in his catalogue of 1602, which fixed its place. Ptolemy’s misty patch is the loose star cluster known as Melotte 111.
Brightest stars
| Star | Designation | Magnitude | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| β Com | β Com | 4.23 | 30 light-years |
| Diadem | α Com | 4.32 | 58 light-years |
| γ Com | γ Com | 4.35 | 167 light-years |
| 11 Com | 11 Com | 4.72 | 290 light-years |
| 36 Com | 36 Com | 4.76 | 324 light-years |
| 12 Com | 12 Com | 4.78 | 295 light-years |
| Phyllon Kissinou | 23 Com | 4.80 | 310 light-years |
| 41 Com | 41 Com | 4.80 | 332 light-years |
| 37 Com | 37 Com | 4.88 | 660 light-years |
| 35 Com | 35 Com | 4.89 | 283 light-years |
Facts
| Area | about 387 square degrees (42 of 88) |
|---|---|
| IAU abbreviation | Com |
| Sky | Northern sky |
| Origin | Named by the court astronomer Conon of Samos in the third century BC, first shown as a separate constellation on Caspar Vopel’s globe of 1536 and later adopted by Tycho Brahe |
| Stars brighter than magnitude 5 | 15 |
| Centre (J2000) | 12.7 h, 25° |
Deep-sky objects
Galaxies, clusters and nebulae brighter than magnitude 9, from the OpenNGC catalogue. Most need binoculars or a telescope and a dark sky.
Boundaries: International Astronomical Union, via Astronomy Engine. Areas are computed from the boundaries by sampling (within about one percent). Names and lines: Stellarium. Stars: HYG Database. Deep-sky objects: OpenNGC. Calculated with Astronomy Engine, an open-source library verified against the US Naval Observatory and NASA JPL. Data sources
How to use this page
Choose your place and a night at the top. The answer and the 3D view show where the constellation is, when it is highest and whether it rises at all from where you are. The chart shows its stars and lines, and the tables list its brightest stars and the deep-sky objects inside it.
Frequently asked questions
When is a constellation best seen?
When it is highest in a dark sky, which the page gives for the night you pick. Each constellation is best placed in a particular season, because the stars rise about four minutes earlier every night.
Why can I not see a constellation from my place?
Constellations far south of the celestial equator never rise from northern places, and those far north never rise from southern ones. The page says when this is the case.
What are the constellation boundaries?
The International Astronomical Union divides the sky into 88 areas with official boundaries. The stick figures are only a drawing aid, the boundaries say which constellation a point in the sky belongs to.
Related guides
- How to learn the constellationsStart with one bright pattern you cannot miss, use it as a signpost to its neighbours, and come back a month later: the sky will have turned, and you will know a little more of it.
- Altitude and azimuth: finding things in the skyTwo angles tell you exactly where to look: which direction, and how high.
- Light pollution and dark skies: the Bortle scaleFrom a city centre you can count a few dozen stars. From a truly dark site you can count a few thousand, with the Milky Way bright enough to cast a shadow. The Bortle scale puts a number on the difference.
- Binoculars for stargazing: what to buy and what to look atA pair of 7x50 or 10x50 binoculars shows the craters of the Moon, the moons of Jupiter, dozens of star clusters and the Andromeda Galaxy, for a fraction of the cost of a telescope.