Everything about Camelopardalis totally explained
Camelopardalis (from
Ancient Greek καμηλοπάρδαλις - kamēlopardalis, ), is the name of a large but faint
northern constellation first recorded by
Jakob Bartsch in
1624, but probably created earlier by
Petrus Plancius.
Notable features
Although Camelopardalis is the 18th largest constellation, it isn't a particularly bright constellation, as the brightest stars are only of fourth magnitude.
β Camelopardalis is the brightest star, at
apparent magnitude 4.03. This star is a
double star, with components of magnitudes 4.0 and 7.4.
The second brightest is
CS Camelopardalis, which has neither a
Bayer or
Flamsteed designation. It is of magnitude 4.21 and is slightly
variable.
In some astronomical reference books, one will often see an alternate spelling of this constellation as
Camelopardis.
Notable deep sky objects
NGC 2403 is a
spiral galaxy approximately 11 million light years distant. It is of magnitude 8.4.
NGC 1502 is a magnitude 6.0
open cluster about 6,800
light years distant.
History
Camelopardalis has no mythology associated with its stars, as it's a modern constellation. The faintness of the constellation, and that of the nearby constellation
Lynx, lead to the early Greeks considering this area of the sky to be empty, and thus a
desert.
However, as a desert, together with other features in the
Zodiac sign of
Gemini (for example the
Milky Way, and the constellations
Gemini,
Orion,
Auriga, and
Canis Major), this may be the origin of the myth of the cattle of
Geryon, which forms one of
The Twelve Labours of
Herakles.
Graphic visualization
The stars of the constellation Camelopardalis can be connected in a fuller way, which graphically shows a
giraffe.
The giraffe's body consists of the quadrangle of stars
α Cam,
β Cam,
BE Cam, and
γ Cam: α Cam and β Cam being of the fourth magnitude.
The stars
HD 42818 (HR 2209) and
M Cam form the
head of the giraffe, and the stars M Cam and α Cam form the giraffe's long
neck.
Stars β Cam and
7 Cam form the giraffe's front leg, and
variable stars BE Cam and
CS Cam form the giraffe's hind leg.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Camelopardalis'.
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