Those excited about King Charles III's coronation at Westminster Abbey in London may consider stargazing instead. Look for the "King Charles Star" named Cor Caroli, which can easily be seen after sunset this weekend.
Cor Caroli is a pair of stars that can be seen visually with the aid of a small or medium-sized telescope. The star is located about halfway between the constellations of the Big Dipper and the bright starArcturus. Cor Caroli is part of a pattern called the "Spring Diamond," which includes the constellations Boötes, Coma Berenices, and Virgo.
About Cor Caroli Star
According to Britannica, the star Cor Caroli, also known as Alpha Canum Venaticorum, is a binary star located in the constellation Canes Venatici that is 110 light-years away from Earth. It consists of a brighter component of visual magnitude 2.9 and a companion of magnitude 5.5.
This star is the archetype of a group of peculiar-spectrum variable stars that display fluctuating absorption lines of chromium, silicon, strontium, or certain rare earth. The element europium is believed to be concentrated around one magnetic pole, while chromium is concentrated around the other.
The name of the star, Cor Caroli, means "Heart of Charles" in Latin and was given to it by Sir Charles Scarborough, physician to Charles II, after the executed English King Charles I. Scarborough claimed that the star shone brightly on May 29,1660, when Charles II returned to London to restore the monarchy.
This star can be used for post-sunset stargazing, and it is known as the "King Charles Star" because of its name's association with the restored monarchy. Additionally, it is part of a formation called the "Spring Diamond," which provides a bonus sighting for stargazers who are interested in locating the star.
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How To See the Cor Caroli Star
Cor Caroli is easy to locate. As per Forbes, anyone can find it by looking for a reasonably bright star in a dark patch within the curve of the handle of the Big Dipper, which is in the northern sky. Another way to locate it is by identifying the "Spring Diamond" asterism, which is made up of four stars including Cor Caroli at the top, Arcturus in Boötes, Denebola in Leo, and Spica closer to the horizon.
Moreover, by facing roughly east and looking for the Big Dipper, one can follow the curve of its handle downwards and to the southeast to find Arcturus and Spica.
Cor Caroli is a name derived from the Latin word for Charles, Carolus. The word Carolean, which is derived from the same root, is being used to describe the reign of King Charles III, just as Elizabethan was used to describe the reign of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II.
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