Camelopardalis

Camelopardalis, the giraffe, is a large constellation in the northern celestial hemisphere that is not very conspicuous, since its brightest stars (seven) are only of magnitude 5. It is located between the constellations of Auriga and the two Bears. The name Camelopardalis comes from "camel-leopard", the name the Greeks gave to the giraffe, since they thought it had the head of a camel and the spots of a leopard.

It was introduced as a constellation by Petrus Plancius and published by Jakob Bartsch in 1624 in his book on constellations.

Notable features

Constellation of Camelopardalis

β Camelopardalis, the constellation's brightest star, is a yellow supergiant of spectral type G1Ib with a radius 58 times greater than the solar radius. It is followed in brightness by CS Camelopardalis, a bluish-white supergiant of type B9Iadistant over 2,000 light-years. It is immersed in the VdB 14 reflection nebula and is a member of the Cam OB1 Stellar Association, which includes other young stars of the constellation such as CE Camelopardalis. Cataloged as an Alpha Cygni variable, its brightness variation is only 0.05 magnitudes.

The third brightest star is α Camelopardalis, a very remote blue supergiant of type O9.5Iae, thought to be an uncertain distance between 3,200 and 6,000 light-years from the solar system. Considering the smallest of the distances, its luminosity—including radiated energy in the ultraviolet—would be equivalent to 676,000 suns, making it one of the most luminous stars in the Milky Way.

Much closer than the three previous stars, 23 H. Camelopardalis (HD 46588), is an F7V-type yellow dwarf located 58 light-years away. Hotter than the Sun—with a surface temperature of 6165 K—it may be a spectroscopic binary with an orbital period of 60 days, although its duplicity is not confirmed. Similar to this star is HD 33564, around which a giant planet with a mass equal to or greater than 9 times that of Jupiter has been detected. Also Tonatiuh (official name of HD 104985), a yellow giant of type G9III, orbits a planet 6 times more massive than Jupiter separated 0.78 au from the star.

Among the variables of the constellation we must mention Z Camelopardalis, a cataclysmic variable made up of a yellow star and a white dwarf very close to each other. The white dwarf sucks hydrogen-rich material from its companion, which accumulates in a disk of gas and dust that revolves around it; every few weeks, the instability of the disk causes material to impact the surface of the white dwarf, producing an eruption that dramatically increases its brightness.

AX Camelopardalis is another variable in the constellation whose magnetic field is 13,700 times greater than the solar one; furthermore, the distribution of iron on its surface does not show an obvious correlation with the geometry of said field.

17.6 light-years distant, Gliese 445 is a red dwarf of type M4.0V in this constellation. The Voyager 1 probe navigates through space heading towards this star, and in 40,000 years it will pass within 1.6 light-years of it.

Camelopardalis has several interesting deep space objects. NGC 1502 is an open cluster 3,500 light-years distant that is probably part of the Orion Arm. NGC 1501 and IC 3568 are planetary nebulae located just under 5,000 light years away. The former is informally known as the Oyster Nebula. For its part, IC 3568 is known as the Lemon Slice Nebula, and its central star has an estimated temperature of 57,000 K and a luminosity several thousand times greater than that of the Sun.

Located 11 million light-years from Earth, NGC 1569 is an irregular galaxy characterized by its high rate of star formation: during the last 100 million years the rate of star creation has been one hundred times greater than that of the Milky Way. NGC 2403 is an intermediate spiral galaxy, an outlying member of the M81 Group. At a distance of 8 million light-years, it was the first galaxy outside the Local Group within which a Cepheid was discovered.

Main Stars

Image of the cataclysmic variable Z Camelopardalis in the ultraviolet.

• α Camelopardalis, distant blue supergigante of magnitude 4,26 that may be associated with the NGC 1502 cluster.
• β Camelopardalis, yellow supergiant of magnitude 4,03, the brightest star of the constellation.
• γ Camelopardalis, white subgiant of magnitude 4,62.
• 7 Camelopardalis, multiple star of four components; its main star has magnitude 4.45.
• 11 Camelopardalis (BV Camelopardalis), star Be and variable Gamma Cassiopeiae of average magnitude 5.03.
• 16 Camelopardalis, white star of the main sequence of magnitude 5.25.
• 37 Camelopardalis, yellow giant of magnitude 5,36 poor in metals.
• 53 Camelopardalis (AX Camelopardalis), chemically peculiar star of magnitude 6.02.
• 23 H. Camelopardalis (HD 46588), yellow dwarf of magnitude 5.45 that probably has a tenuous star companion.
• And Camelopardalis, eclipsing binary and variable Delta Scuti, one of the few stars presenting both types of variability.
• Z Camelopardalis, a cataclysmic variable star that enters eruption every two or three weeks; its brightness ranges from up to 10,0 to a minimum of 14,50. It is the prototype of a subclass of variables within the dwarf novas.
• BC Camelopardalis, peculiar star of magnitude 6.47.
• BD Camelopardalis, a symbiotic star whose visible component is a spectral-type giant S.
• BE Camelopardalis, bright red giant and irregular variable whose brightness fluctuates between magnitude 4.35 and 4.48.
• BK Camelopardalis, star Be of magnitude 4.73.
• CE Camelopardalis, white supergiant of magnitude 4,60.
• CS Camelopardalis, binary star at about 1940 light and variable Alpha Cygni. Variable brightness between magnitude 4,29 and 4,34, is the second most brilliant star of the constellation although it lacks Bayer's name.
• TU Camelopardalis, eclipsing spectroscopic binary with a period of 2,933 days.
• TX Camelopardalis, variable Look whose period is 557,4 days.
• VZ Camelopardalis, red giant and irregular variable; its brightness ranges between magnitude 4.8 and 4.96.
• HD 33564, star of magnitude 5.10 with a giant planet in orbit.
• HD 104985, yellow giant of magnitude 5,80 with an extrasolar planet.
• Gliese 275.1, red dwarf of magnitude 10.79.
• Gliese 445, red dwarf located 17.6 light years from the Solar System.
• Stein 2051 (GJ 169.1), binary star formed by a red dwarf and a white dwarf at 18 light years away.

Deep Sky Objects

IC 342 a spiral galaxy.

• NGC 1569. AR: 04h 30m 49.2s Dec: +64°50'53" (Epoca 2000). Nearby irregular galaxy that is experiencing a high activity of star formation.
• NGC 2403. AR: 07h 36m 54.0s Dec: +65°36'00" (Epoca 2000). It is one of the spiral galaxies closest to the Milky Way excluding those of the Local Group.
• IC 342. AR: 03 h 46 m 48.5 s Dec: +8 ° 05 '46 " (Epoca 2000). The galaxy, located about 7 million light years away is close to the galactic equator, where dust darkens it makes it a difficult object for amateur and professional astronomers to observe.
• NGC 1502. AR: 04h 07m 42.0s Dec: +62°20'00" (Epoca 2000). Open cluster between α Camelopardalis and β Camelopardalis.
• NGC 2523. AR: 07h 36m 54.0s Dec: +65°36'00" (Epoch 2000) weak spiral galaxy, magnitude 13.
• Cascada de Kemble. Star cluster of eighth magnitude.
• NGC 1501. AR: 04h 07m 00.0s Dec: +60°55'00" (Epoca 2000). Weak planetary nebula with an irregular disk.
• IC 3568, planetary nebula of magnitude 10.6 with almost spherical shape.

History

Camelopardalis as shown in Mirror of Urania , a set of constellation cards published in London c. 1823. Above are shown the constellations now abandoned from Tarandus and Custos Messium.

Camelopardalis is not one of Ptolemy's 48 constellations in the Almagest. It was created by Petrus Plancius in 1613. It first appeared on a globe designed by him and produced by Pieter van den Keere. A year later, Jakob Bartsch included it in his atlas. Johannes Hevelius described this constellation in works of his that were so influential that he became known as Camelopardali Hevelii or Camelopard for short. Hevel.

Part of the constellation was removed to form the constellation Sciurus Volans, the Flying Squirrel, by William Croswell in 1810. However, this was not taken up by later cartographers.