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Stars and Sticks| Abbreviation | CVn |
|---|---|
| Meaning | Hunting Dogs |
| Pronunciation Guide is based on “Pronouncing Astronomical Names,” published in 1943 by the American Astronomical Society. | CANE-eez ve-NAT-iss-eye |
| Genitive The genitive is the Latin possessive form used in star names. For example, Alpha Orionis means “the Alpha of Orion.” | KAY-num veh-nat-ih-KOR-um |
| Best Month | May |
| Visibility | Northern |
| Origin | ModernAdded between the 17th and 18th centuries by astronomers like Hevelius or Plancius to define faint star clusters ignored by the ancients. |
| Author | HeveliusA Polish astronomer known as the "founder of lunar topography" who added several "filler" constellations using high-precision instruments. |
| Type | constellation |
| Difficulty | Challenging |
| Description | The two Hunting Dogs — named Asterion ('starry') and Chara ('joy') — were added by Johannes Hevelius in 1687, depicted being held on a leash by Boötes as he drives the Great Bear around the pole. The constellation contains one of the finest globular clusters in the northern sky, M3, home to roughly 500,000 stars about 34,000 light-years away. Its brightest star, Cor Caroli ('Heart of Charles'), was named by Edmund Halley to honor King Charles I of England; it is the prototype of a class of chemically peculiar magnetic stars whose brightness varies as they rotate. |
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