Tycho Brahe was the first one to catalogue it as a separate constellation in 1602.
Catullus, in his translation of the Greek of Callimachus, thus refers to the location of Coma Berenices:
The savage Lion and Northern Bear
Full to the west with sparkling beam I lead,
And bright Boötes in my course precede.
Allen thinks that the group was known to the Egyptians as "the Many Stars." Other titles for it are "Berenice's Periwig," "Rosa," and "Berenice's Bush," and the figure has been thought to represent the tuft of hair in the Lion's tail, and the sheaf of wheat held by the Virgin.
The Chinese took a great interest in this group, and gave it many fanciful names.
Burritt gives the following brief history of the constellation: "Berenice was of royal descent, and a lady of great beauty, who married Ptolemy Soter or Euergetes, one of the kings of Egypt, her own brother. When he was going on a dangerous expedition against the Assyrians she vowed to dedicate her hair to the goddess of beauty, if he returned Sometime after the victorious return of her in safety. husband the locks, which she had deposited in the temple of Venus, disappeared. The King expressed great regret at the loss, whereupon Conon his astronomer publicly reported that Jupiter had taken away the Queen's locks from the temple and placed them among the stars in this figure."[1]
According to Argelander there are thirty-six stars in this group.
The Lizard
This asterism was designed by Hevelius, and comprises the stars between Cygnus and Andromeda.
- ↑ The early Christians thought that this cluster represented the Scourge of Christ, Absalom's hair, or Samson's Hair.
