Lynx

Lynx is a long slender faint constellation that ranges from the Northern sky between Ursa Major and Auriga to near the head of Gemini, part of Cancer, and part of Leo. Containing only one 3rd magnitude star, Lynx is made up of a long chain of 4th magnitude stars and fails to resemble its namesake, looking more like a snake. Alpha Lyncis, at the bottom end of the 'snake' below, is a third magnitude orange giant of type K which is moving away from the main sequence, lying about 203 light years from Earth. The one named star in Lynx is Alsciaukat, another red giant in its old age, seen in my photo below. But despite its name, Alsciaukat is usually found on most star charts as simply 31 Lyncis. The deep sky objects in Lynx are faint and not easily seen by amateurs. The constellation is most easily seen in the spring and it hosts two minor metoeor showers in the fall. Also, during the photo below, a satellite in orbit made its way between two of the stars in Auriga.