Camelopardalis - The Giraffe

Learn about the constellation Camelopardalis - The Giraffe, location, facts, mythology, meteor showers and deep space objects.

Camelopardalis is the name of a large but faint northern constellation first recorded by Jakob Bartsch in 1624 but probably created earlier by Petrus Plancius.

Location: Northern Circumpolar 6h RA 70° Dec

Although Camelopardalis is the 18th largest constellation, it is not a particularly bright constellation, as the brightest stars are only of fourth magnitude.

Camelopardalis Mythology

Camelopardalis has no mythology associated with its stars, as it is a modern constellation.

Camelopardalis Deep Space Objects

Camelopardalis is in the part of the celestial sphere facing away from the galactic plane. Because of this many distant galaxies are visible within its borders.

The M81 Group spans Camelopardalis and Ursa Major. It is classified as being between an elliptical and a spiral galaxy because it has faint arms and a large central bulge.

NGC 1502 is a magnitude 6.9 open cluster. NGC 1502 is also associated with Kemble's Cascade, a simple but beautiful asterism appearing in the sky as a chain of stars 2.5° long that is parallel to the Milky Way and is pointed towards Cassiopeia.

MACS0647-JD, one of the possible candidates for the farthest known galaxies in the universe (z= 10.7), is also in Camelopardalis.

In this table, the observation month represents the month in which the object reaches its highest point in the sky. It can also be viewed a few months before and after depending on your location. Direction is the compass direction in which the object is located, with Z meaning Zenith or overhead.