This space telescope image Hubble her NASA and ESA shows the bright spiral galaxy NGC 4689, located 54 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Berenice.

This constellation stands out as the only one of the 88 officially recognized by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) as being named after the historical figure, Queen Berenice II of Egypt.

The Latin word ‘coma’ refers to her hair, meaning that NGC 4689 is in the hair of a queen. Some of Berenice’s contemporaries would have taken this literally, as the story goes that her court astronomer believed that a stray tuft of Berenice’s hair had fallen from the gods. Hence her name: Komi Verenikis.

NGC 4689 holds an interesting—if less regal—place in modern astronomy. The universe is so incredibly vast that at 54 million light-years away, NGC 4689 is relatively close for a galaxy. This image includes data from two sets of observations, one made in 2019, the other in 2024.