The Caldwell Objects

Comae Berenices, the obvious
northernmost star in
the constellation's famous
inverted Y asterism. If your
telescope is on an equatorial
mount and has a 1°-wide
field of view, you can locate
the galaxy in two easy steps.
First find Gamma Comae
Berenices and place it at the
northern end of your field
of view. Next simply move
two eyepiece fields to the
east and NGC 4559 should
almost be centered in your
eyepiece. It is not difficult to
see. In fact, I have spotted it
(albeit with effort) in 7x35
binoculars as a dim but
large glow. I have also
chanced upon its polished
l0th-magnitude form during
a casual comet sweep with
my 4-inch refractor at 23 x.
Christian Luginbuhl and
Brian Skiff call the galaxy
"impressive" in a 6-
The Caldwell Objects
36
inch telescope. At 23x in the 4-inch Genesis, the
11'-long object looks obviously oval-shaped, with
three 12.5- to 13.5-magnitude stars forming an arc
on the galaxy's southeastern edge. Another
conspicuous star lies just beyond the galaxy's
northeastern flank. Increasing the magnification
to 72x will reveal NGC 4559's oval core, which
gradually brightens to a starlike center. If the
southern half of the galaxy appears slightly
brighter and more "complete" than the northern
half, this is the time to take some deep breaths
and look for
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