It was my intention to talk about Bootes the Herdsman this week but I discovered I had missed a small spring constellation, Coma Bere-nices, or Berenices's Hair.

Coma Berenices (Koma BERE-nicezs) is a small constellation located between Leo and Bootes (BOW-oates) and is more of an asterism than an actual constellation. There are only three stars in the group and only one of them has an actual name.

All three stars are relatively dim at less than 4th magnitude. In fact, the second brightest star is about the same brightness as our Sun which gives you an idea of what our star would look like from 27 light years away.

The story behind Coma Berenices is Queen Berenice, wife of Ptolemy III of Egypt asked the gods to bring her husband home safe from the war he was fighting. If they did she would give them her beautiful auburn hair. Well, the gods did and so did she, except the next morning the hair was missing from the temple.

The king was about to do in all the priests when the chief astronomer said the hair wasn't missing, it was in the heavens and he pointed out a star cluster which sort of looked like a lock of hair. Well, the priests were saved and they owed a debt of eternal gratitude to the chief astronomer.

Coma Berenices is notable, however, for three things. One, the Coma Cluster itself. In binoculars is is a grand sight.

It will fill the entire field of view with about 40 stars. Before astronomical map makers got into the act, the cluster was the tuft of hair on the tail of Leo. It is estimated to be 270 light years away.

The second notable thing about Coma Berenices is there are eight Messier objects located within the constellation which make for a challenge of seek and find; and the third thing is the galactic North Pole is located within the boundaries of the group. This means as we are looking at Coma Berenices, we are looking up out of the galactic plane. That is why so many star clusters and galaxies can be seen there.

Much time can be spent in the Coma constellation with binoculars and telescope for there is much to see. You can find Coma Berenices in the east at about 8:30 p.m. local time.

Look below Leo for three dim stars that look like one corner of a box. Use your binoculars to find the cluster and a telescope to wander around finding the galaxies that are there and in the Virgo cluster. More about Virgo later.

SKY WATCH: First quarter Moon on March 25. Look for a thin crescent Moon above Venus in the west tonight (March 21). Venus is still the brightest thing you will see in the west after sunset.

In the east Saturn is above Regulus, the brightest star in Leo the Lion. Jupiter is rising earlier each morning. Look for it now in the south near Antares, the heart of Scorpius.

Now, next time, Bootes.