The Constellation Canes Venatici
Canes Venatici is a small faint constellation introduced by the Polish astronomer Johannes Hevelius in the 17th century.
It is visible in the northern sky around April, and was previously part of Ursa Major.
While its stars are not prominent, it is a rich hunting ground for galaxies, including the famous face-on spiral galaxy M51. It also contains the globular cluster M3.
It lies close to the huge Virgo supercluster of galaxies, in a part of the sky well away from the Milky Way where there is little obscuration from nearby material. This makes it is a good place to observe the distant universe.
Canes Venatici is Latin for ‘running dogs’, and it is often represented as the dogs of Boötes the herdsman.
1687 (Hevelius)
1.1% of the sky
465.2 square degrees
Hover the pointer over the name of an object to highlight its position on the starchart to the right, or click to see more information.
| Stars | Open Clusters | Globular Clusters | Galaxies |
| Cor Caroli (mag 2.9) | Messier 3 (mag 6.3) | Messier 94 (mag 8.2) | |
| Chara (mag 4.3) | NGC 5194 (mag 8.4) | ||
| 24-CVn (mag 4.7) | Messier 51 (mag 8.4) | ||
| AO CVn (mag 4.7) | Messier 63 (mag 8.6) | ||
| AW CVn (mag 4.8) | Messier 106 (mag 9.3) | ||
| 5-CVn (mag 4.8) | NGC 4631 (mag 9.3) | ||
| 25-CVn (mag 4.9) | NGC 4449 (mag 9.4) | ||
| HIP 64540 (mag 4.9) | NGC 5195 (mag 9.6) | ||
| BH CVn (mag 4.9) | NGC 4490 (mag 9.7) | ||
| 6-CVn (mag 5.0) | NGC 4214 (mag 9.8) | ||
| BK CVn (mag 5.1) | NGC 5005 (mag 9.8) | ||
| 14-CVn (mag 5.2) | NGC 4395 (mag 10.3) | ||
| 3-CVn (mag 5.3) | NGC 4244 (mag 10.6) | ||
| Y CVn (mag 5.3) | NGC 5033 (mag 10.7) | ||
| HIP 61309 (mag 5.4) | NGC 4618 (mag 10.8) | ||
| α¹-CVn (mag 5.5) | NGC 4111 (mag 10.8) | ||
| HIP 67250 (mag 5.5) | NGC 5353 (mag 11.0) | ||
| 23-CVn (mag 5.6) | NGC 4242 (mag 11.0) | ||
| HIP 67384 (mag 5.6) | NGC 4145 (mag 11.2) | ||
| HIP 63916 (mag 5.6) | NGC 4217 (mag 11.2) | ||
| 2-CVn (mag 5.7) | NGC 5377 (mag 11.3) | ||
| 19-CVn (mag 5.8) | NGC 4220 (mag 11.3) | ||
| HIP 64927 (mag 5.8) | NGC 5354 (mag 11.4) | ||
| TU CVn (mag 5.9) | NGC 4151 (mag 11.5) | ||
| HIP 62641 (mag 5.9) | NGC 4914 (mag 11.6) | ||
| HIP 65550 (mag 5.9) | IC 4182 (mag 11.6) | ||
| HIP 67194 (mag 5.9) | NGC 5395 (mag 11.7) | ||
| HIP 67605 (mag 5.9) | NGC 5371 (mag 11.7) | ||
| HIP 67782 (mag 5.9) | NGC 5297 (mag 11.8) | ||
| 17-CVn (mag 5.9) | NGC 5198 (mag 11.8) |
