01-08-2010 01:30h

Samyang objective f=85 mm, f/2.8, T= 16x5 sec, ISO 1600

On July 31, Aug 1 Neowise passed the Hair of Berenice, a nice star cluster near the constellation Leo. A good moment to say farewel to Neowise.

A hair-raising story
Berenice was a real person who, in 246 BC, married her cousin, Ptolemy III Euergetes (Hyginus says she was his sister, but that was a different Berenice). Berenice was reputedly a great horsewoman who had already distinguished herself in battle. Hyginus, who deals with the star group under Leo in his Poetic Astronomy, tells the following story.

It seems that shortly after their marriage (Hyginus says a few days, but in reality it was a few months) Ptolemy set out to attack Asia on the Third Syrian War. Berenice vowed that if he returned victorious she would cut off her hair in gratitude to the gods. On Ptolemy’s safe return the following year, the relieved Berenice carried out her promise and placed her hair in the temple dedicated to her mother Arsinoë (identified after her death with Aphrodite) at Zephyrium near the modern Aswan. But the following day the tresses were missing. What really happened to them is not recorded, but Conon of Samos (c.280–c.220 BC), a mathematician and astronomer who worked at Alexandria, pointed out the group of stars near the tail of the lion, telling the king that the hair of Berenice had gone to join the constellations.