Camelopardalis, from Greek καμηλοπάρδαλις (Greeks thought that it had the head of a camel and the spots of a leopard), is a large but faint constellation in the northern sky. Its name is Latin for giraffe. The constellation was first described by Jakob Bartsch in 1624, but was created earlier by Petrus Plancius. In older astronomy books, one will sometimes see an alternative spelling of the name as Camelopardus.
Although Camelopardalis is the 18t...
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Camelopardalis, from Greek καμηλοπάρδαλις (Greeks thought that it had the head of a camel and the spots of a leopard), is a large but faint constellation in the northern sky. Its name is Latin for giraffe. The constellation was first described by Jakob Bartsch in 1624, but was created earlier by Petrus Plancius. In older astronomy books, one will sometimes see an alternative spelling of the name as Camelopardus.
Although Camelopardalis is the 18th largest constellation, it is not a particularly bright constellation, as the brightest stars are only of fourth magnitude. β Camelopardalis is the brightest star, at apparent magnitude 4.03. This star is a double star, with components of magnitudes 4.0 and 7.4. The second brightest is CS Camelopardalis, which has neither a Bayer nor a Flamsteed designation. It is of magnitude 4.21 and is slightly variable. Other double stars interesting to amateurs are OΣ 67 Camelopardalis with a greenish companion, 19 Camelopardalis (probably an optical...
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