Canes Venatici

Canes Venatici

Constellation
List of stars in Canes Venatici
Abbreviation	CVn
Genitive	Canum Venaticorum
Pronunciation	/ˈkeɪniːz vɨˈnætɨsaɪ/ Cánes Venátici, genitive /ˈkeɪnəm vɨˌnætɨˈkɒrəm/
Symbolism	the Hunting Dogs
Right ascension	13
Declination	+40
Area	465 sq. deg. (38th)
Main stars	2
Bayer/Flamsteed stars	21
Stars with known planets	0
Bright stars	1
Nearby stars	1
Brightest star	Cor Caroli (α CVn) (2.90m)
Nearest star	β CVn (27.4 ly)
Messier objects	5
Meteor showers	Canes Venaticids
Bordering constellations	Ursa Major Boötes Coma Berenices
Visible at latitudes between +90° and −40°. Best visible at 21:00 (9 p.m.) during the month of May.

Canes Venatici is a small northern constellation that was created by Johannes Hevelius in the 17th century. Its name is Latin for hunting dogs and it represents the mythological dogs Chara and Asterion being held on a leash by Boötes the herdsman, a neighboring constellation.

History

Canes Venatici depicted in an old star atlas.

Canes Venatici contains some bright stars, but before the seventeenth century it was treated as part of the constellation of Boötes the herdsman. Its identification with Boötes's dogs arose through a mistranslation. Some of its component stars were traditionally described as representing Boötes's cudgel (Greek, Κολλοροβος). When the Greek astronomer Ptolemy's Almagest was translated from Greek to Arabic, the translator did not know the Greek word and rendered it as the nearest-looking Arabic word, and wrote العصى ذات الكلاب in ordinary unvowelled Arabic text "al-`aşā dhāt al-kullāb", which means "the spearshaft having a hook", probably thinking of a shepherd's crook. When the Arabic text was translated into Latin, the translator (probably in Spain) mistook the Arabic word كلاب for kilāb, meaning "dogs", writing hastile habens canes ("spearshaft having dogs").

These spurious dogs floated about the astronomical literature until Hevelius decided to specify their presence in the sky. Hevelius named α CVn Asterion (now known as 'Cor Caroli') and the other as Chara; these names are Greek for "Little star" and "Joy" respectively. These were sometimes regarded as an independent constellation or at least an asterism. Canes Venatici is now one of the 88 official modern constellations.

Notable features

Stars

The constellation's brightest star is Cor Caroli (α² CVn), named by Sir Charles Scarborough in memory of King Charles I, the deposed king of Britain.^[1] It is of magnitude 2.90.

La Superba (Y CVn) is a semiregular variable star that varies between magnitudes 4.7 and 6.2 over a period of around 158 days. It is a carbon star and is famous for being deep red. AM CVn, a very blue star of magnitude 14, is the prototype of a special class of cataclysmic variable stars, in which the companion star is a white dwarf, rather than a main sequence star. RS CVn is the prototype of a special class of binary stars^[2] of chromospherically active and optically variable components.

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. This was the first galaxy recognised as having a spiral structure, this structure being first observed by Lord Rosse in 1845.

Other notable spiral galaxies in Canes Venatici are the Sunflower Galaxy (M63, NGC 5055), Messier 94 (NGC 4736), and Messier 106 (NGC 4258).

Messier 3 (NGC 5272) is a globular cluster. It is 18' in diameter, and at magnitude 6.3 is bright enough to be seen with binoculars.

Citations

References

• Ian Ridpath and Wil Tirion (2007). Stars and Planets Guide, Collins, London. ISBN 978-0007251209. Princeton University Press, Princeton. ISBN 978-0691135564.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Canes Venatici

• Photographic Catalogue of Deep Sky Objects in Canes Venatici
• The Deep Photographic Guide to the Constellations: Canes Venatici
• Star Tales – Canes Venatici

Coordinates: 13^h 00^m 00^s, +40° 00′ 00″