Lynx Constellation

space · stars · northern sky · planets

A brand new constellation. Lynx was invented by a Polish astronomer named Johannes Hevelius in the late 1600s, making it much younger than most constellations that ancient people named thousands of years ago.

Tricky to spot. This constellation is really faint, which means you need good eyesight or a telescope to see it clearly, and its brightest stars make a zigzag pattern across the sky.

An orange giant star. The brightest star in Lynx is called Alpha Lyncis, and it's an orange giant star much bigger and hotter than our sun.

Planets beyond ours. Six different star systems in Lynx have planets circling them, and astronomers discovered some by watching these planets pass in front of their stars like tiny shadows.

A stargazer favorite. Amateur astronomers love observing a star called Y Lyncis because it changes brightness in interesting ways that you can track from Earth.