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Beta (β) Comae Berenices
Yellow Solar Type Star
| Right Ascension | 13h 11m 53s | Best Seen | 4/1 - 8/15 |
| Declination | 27° 52' 35" | Magnitude | 4.26 |
| Constellation | Coma Berenices | ||
| Actual | Compared to Sun | |
| Distance | ~30 ly | -- |
| Actual Brightness | -- | -- |
| Surface Temperature | ~6000 °K | ~1.03 |
| Diameter | -- | ~1.10 |
| Mass | -- | ~1.10 |
| Surface Gravity | -- | -- |
| Surface Composition (by mass) | 74% hydrogen 24% helium 2% everything else |
same |
| Spectral Type | G0 V | G2 V |
| Density (gram/cubic cm) | -- | -- |
What To Look For Through The Telescope
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Recommended eyepiece: 24mm or 40 mm.
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When people look through the telescope they should see a faint star. It may appear to be a pale yellow.
Beta Comae Berenices Information:
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This is the second brightest star in the constellation Coma Berenices, Berenice’s Hair.
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The Greek Konon of Samos (born 247 B.C.) named this constellation after Egyptian Queen Berenice.
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The story: beautiful Berenice cut her long, beautiful hair as a sacrifice to the Greek goddess Aphrodite, hoping for her husband’s safe return from war. King Ptolemy III of Egypt did indeed return safely. Zeus and Aphrodite were so touched by Berenice’s sacrifice that they placed her hair in the heavens.
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Berenice died in 221 B.C. Apparently, she was determined, scheming, and politically ambitious.
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The north pole of our Milky Way galaxy is located in Coma Berenices.
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The weak Coma Berenicid meteor shower occurs from early December to late January (about December 8 to January 23).
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This star is like our sun in several ways. It is about the same size, about the same temperature, and it is also fusing hydrogen in its core. It also has similar magnetic activity, meaning beta Coma Berenices probably has sunspots, flares, prominences, etc.
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This star is not like our sun in several ways. So far, no planets have been found orbiting the star. (There’s not even a dust disk around the star, the leftovers of planetary formation.) It has a bit more iron than our sun. Also, its rotation period is half that of our sun’s, so beta Coma Berenices’ solar cycle is about 16.6 years, as compared to our sun’s 11 year cycle.
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References
| Item | Updated | Notes |
| Coordinates | 2003-11-26 | SIMBAD says 13 11 52 +27 52 41 Hipparcos says 13 11 53 +27 52 33 |
| Magnitude | 2003-11-26 | SIMBAD Vmag = 4.26 |
| Distance | 2003-11-26 | SIMBAD, Hipparcos parallax 109.23mas -> 29.86ly |
| Actual Brightness | -- | |
| Surface Temperature | 2003-11-26 | http://www.astro.uiuc.edu/projects/sow/betacom.html |
| Diameter | 2003-11-26 | http://www.astro.uiuc.edu/projects/sow/betacom.html |
| Mass | 2003-11-26 | http://www.astro.uiuc.edu/projects/sow/betacom.html |
| Surface Gravity | -- | |
| Surface Composition | 2003-11-26 | OK for all stars |
| Spectral Type | 2003-11-26 | SIMBAD says F9.5 V Hipparcos says G0 V |
| Density | -- | |
| Other Information | 2003-11-26 | legend/reality from http://www.hawastsoc.org/deepsky/com/ and http://www.seds.org/Maps/Stars_en/Fig/comaberenices.html meteor shower from http://comets.amsmeteors.org/meteors/showers/coma_berenicids.html more at http://www.astro.uiuc.edu/projects/sow/betacom.html |