Camelopardalis

Camelopardalis is a large but faint area of sky close to the north celestial pole representing a giraffe.

It does not contain any bright stars, and furthermore it also lies well away from the plane of the Milky Way and does not contain any bright deep sky objects either. However, because there is little obscuration from nearby material it is a good place to observe the distant universe, and it contains many faint galaxies.

Rather improbably, the name ‘Camelopardalis’ means ‘giraffe’ and was given to this sky area by Plancius in 1612. I had previously been left unnamed by Greek astronomers since it did not contain any bright stars.

The giraffe in question is supposedly the animal Rebecca rode to marry Isaac in the Book of Genesis, though the Biblical story itself refers to a camel. Legendhas it that Johannes Hevelius saw the spots of a giraffe in the constellation’s stars, prompting the association.

The Indian name for this constellation is ದೀರ್ಘ ಕಂಠ (Deergha Kantha)

Camelopardalis contains:

• Stars
  • β-Cam (mag 4.0)
  • HD 21291 (mag 4.3)
  • α-Cam (mag 4.3)
  • BE Cam (mag 4.4)
  • 7-Cam (mag 4.4)
  • HD 49878 (mag 4.6)
  • HD 21389 (mag 4.6)
  • γ-Cam (mag 4.6)
  • BK Cam (mag 4.7)
  • HD 42818 (mag 4.8)
  • HD 23089 (mag 4.8)
  • VZ Cam (mag 4.9)
  • HD 24479 (mag 5.0)
  • HD 25291 (mag 5.0)
  • HD 24480 (mag 5.1)
  • 3-Cam (mag 5.1)
  • 43-Cam (mag 5.1)
  • HD 33564 (mag 5.1)
  • HD 21447 (mag 5.1)
  • BD Cam (mag 5.1)
  • 42-Cam (mag 5.1)
  • HD 106112 (mag 5.1)
  • HD 20797 (mag 5.2)
  • HD 26764 (mag 5.2)
  • TU Cam (mag 5.2)
• Open Clusters
  • NGC 1502 (mag 6.9)
  • IC 361 (mag 11.7)
  • NGC 2253 (mag 13.0)
  • NGC 1708
  • IC 2438
• Globular Clusters
  None
• Galaxy
  • NGC 2403 (mag 8.9)
  • IC 342 (mag 9.2)
  • NGC 1961 (mag 11.0)
  • NGC 1569 (mag 11.0)
  • NGC 2655 (mag 11.1)
  • IC 334 (mag 11.3)
  • NGC 2715 (mag 11.4)
  • NGC 2268 (mag 11.5)
  • NGC 1560 (mag 11.5)
  • NGC 2366 (mag 11.6)
  • NGC 2748 (mag 11.7)
  • NGC 2460 (mag 11.7)
  • NGC 2732 (mag 11.9)
  • NGC 2633 (mag 11.9)
  • IC 520 (mag 11.9)
  • NGC 2314 (mag 11.9)
  • NGC 2646 (mag 12.0)
  • IC 529 (mag 12.0)
  • NGC 2523 (mag 12.0)
  • NGC 2551 (mag 12.1)
  • NGC 2441 (mag 12.2)
  • NGC 2347 (mag 12.5)
  • NGC 2336 (mag 12.5)
  • IC 2179 (mag 12.6)
  • IC 467 (mag 12.7)