Located in the northern hemisphere, Canes Venatici is a small constellation that was created by Johannes Hevelius in the 17th century. Its name is Latin for ‘hunting dogs’, and the constellation is often depicted in illustrations as representing the dogs of Boötes the Herdsman, a neighboring constellation.

Cor Caroli is the constellation’s brightest star, with an apparent magnitude of 2.9. La Superba is one of the reddest naked-eye stars and one of the brightest carbon stars. The Whirlpool Galaxy is a spiral galaxy tilted face-on to observers on Earth, which became the first galaxy whose spiral nature was discerned.

Covering 465 square degrees, Canes Venatici ranks 38th of the 88 constellations in regards to size.

	Applicable Information
Visibility In Pacific Northwest	November to August
Best Times To View	May
Right Ascension	12h 06.2m to 14h 07.3m
Declination	+27.84° to +52.36°
Area	465 square degrees
Main Stars	2
Brightest Object	Cor Caroli
Meteor showers	Canes Venaticids
Messier objects	5
Neighboring Constellations	Ursa Major, Boötes, Coma Berenices

History

The stars of Canes Venatici are not bright, as in the classical eras, these stars were listed by Ptolemy as stars below the constellation Ursa Major.

In medieval times, the identification of these stars with the dogs of Boötes arose through a mistranslation: some of Boötes’s stars were traditionally described as representing the club of Boötes.

Ptolemy’s work was later translated to Arabic, which when later translated into Latin made some mistakes. This would lead to astronomerPeter Apian depicting Boötes as having two dogs with him in 1533.

These spurious dogs floated about the astronomical literature until Hevelius decided to make them a separate constellation in 1687.

Stars

Canes Venatici contains no bright stars, as the brightest stars of Alpha and Beta Canum Venaticorum are only of 3rd and 4th magnitude respectively. Flamsteed catalogued 25 stars in the constellation, which was labeled them 1 to 25 Canum Venaticorum. It is worth noting that 1 Canum Venaticorum turned out to be in Ursa Major, 13 Canum Venaticorum was in Coma Berenices, and 22 Canum Venaticorum did not exist.

A part of the universe containing very few galaxies, the Giant Void exists here and may be possibly the largest void ever discovered.

Canes Venatici contains 5 Messier objects, which includes 4 galaxies. A more significant galaxy is the Whirlpool Galaxy, otherwise known as M51 or NGC 5194 ,and NGC 5195, which is a small barred spiral galaxy that is seen face-on. This was the first galaxy recognized as having a spiral structure, this structure being first observed by Lord Rosse in 1845. Widely considered to be one of the most beautiful galaxies visible, M51 has many star-forming regions and nebulae in its arms, coloring them pink and blue in contrast to the older yellow core. NGC 5195 is the smaller companion of M51.

Other notable spiral galaxies in Canes Venatici include but are not limited to:

• M63, the Sunflower Galaxy, was named for its appearance in large amateur telescopes, and is a spiral galaxy with an integrated magnitude of 9.0.
• NGC 4631 is a barred spiral galaxy, which is one of the largest and brightest edge-on galaxies in the sky.
• M3 or NGC 5272 is a globular cluster 32,000 light-years from Earth, which is bright enough to be seen with binoculars. In dark skis, M3 can even be seen with the naked eye.
• M94, also cataloged as NGC 4736, is a face-on spiral galaxy with a very tight spiral arms and a bright core. The outskirts of the galaxy are incredibly luminous in the ultraviolet because of a ring of new stars surrounding the core.
• M106  is an intermediate spiral galaxy with a similar size and luminosity to the Andromeda Galaxy.

Other fascinating deep sky objects in the constellation include the Whale Galaxy (NGC 4631), the Hockey Stick Galaxies (NGC 4656 and NGC 4657, also known as the Crowbar Galaxy), the Cocoon Galaxy (NGC 4490), the spiral galaxies NGC 5033, NGC 5005, NGC 4151, and NGC 5371, and the dwarf galaxy NGC 4618.

Make sure to check out other articles on the site, including a brief introduction to constellations, other constellation articles, and more!