Constellation
Lynx
A faint figure between Ursa Major and Auriga, named by Johannes Hevelius for the lynx. He said you would need a lynx’s eyes to see it.
From New York on October 13, 2026, the centre of Lynx rises at 8:05 PM, is highest at 7:37 AM (82° above the horizon in the N) and sets at 7:12 PM.
In the 3D sky
The sky over New York turned towards Lynx. 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
Johannes Hevelius measured star positions by eye long after others had moved to telescopic sights. In 1644 the French astronomer Pierre Gassendi praised him for having the ‘eyes of a lynx’. When Hevelius created this constellation, he wrote that anyone hoping to observe it would need a lynx’s eyesight. He overstated how faint its stars were, but the area really is dim and empty. In his catalogue he called it ‘Lynx, or Tiger’, although his drawing looks much like neither.
Some of these stars had been noted by Ptolemy outside the figure of the Great Bear. Earlier in the 17th century Petrus Plancius had used them for his river Jordanus, but Hevelius’s lynx is the figure that lasted. It is not known whether Hevelius was thinking of Lynceus, the sharp-eyed Argonaut of Greek myth who could even see under the ground. Its brightest star is the only one with a Greek letter, given by Francis Baily in 1845.
Sources: Ian Ridpath, Star Tales: Lynx
Brightest stars
| Star | Designation | Magnitude | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| α Lyn | α Lyn | 3.14 | 203 light-years |
| 38 Lyn | 38 Lyn | 3.82 | 125 light-years |
| HIP 44248 | HIP 44248 | 3.96 | 52 light-years |
| Alsciaukat | 31 Lyn | 4.25 | 382 light-years |
| 15 Lyn | 15 Lyn | 4.35 | 178 light-years |
| 2 Lyn | 2 Lyn | 4.44 | 157 light-years |
| HIP 44700 | HIP 44700 | 4.56 | 817 light-years |
| 21 Lyn | 21 Lyn | 4.61 | 274 light-years |
| 27 Lyn | 27 Lyn | 4.78 | 250 light-years |
| HIP 47029 | HIP 47029 | 4.81 | 215 light-years |
Facts
| Area | about 542 square degrees (28 of 88) |
|---|---|
| IAU abbreviation | Lyn |
| Sky | Northern sky |
| Origin | Introduced in Hevelius’s star catalogue of 1687 and drawn in his atlas published in 1690 |
| Stars brighter than magnitude 5 | 14 |
| Centre (J2000) | 8.2 h, 49° |
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.
No deep-sky object brighter than magnitude 9.
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.