Constellations · Constellation · Canum Venaticorum · CVn
Constellation
Canes Venatici
The hunting dogs held on a leash by Boötes, chasing the Bears. Faint to the eye, rich to a telescope: the first spiral galaxy was seen here.
- Genitive
- Canum Venaticorum
- Area
- 465 square degrees · 38th of 88
- Brightest star
- Cor Caroli · magnitude 2.89
- Naked-eye stars
- 61 brighter than magnitude 6.5
- Highest at midnight
- early April
History
Johannes Hevelius added the dogs in 1687. Their brighter star, Cor Caroli, is “the heart of Charles” — named, it is said, for England’s beheaded Charles I.
Discovery
In 1845 Lord Rosse, with a monster telescope in Ireland, sketched the arms of the Whirlpool Galaxy — the first time anyone had seen a spiral. It sits just under the Big Dipper’s handle.
Look for
M 3, one of the finest globular clusters in the northern sky, lies halfway between Arcturus and Cor Caroli.