The Heart of Charles Astronomy rarely imposes its political
beliefs on the stars. Most stars have alphanumerical
designations, not names. The goal is to be objective. The
universe is mute to human social problems and history. Science
attempts to understand the universe, not to impose human foibles
upon it. There are, of course, notable exceptions. Humans love
to name things, and the star “alpha” in the constellation Canes
Venatici proves that names have an important emotional effect on
the way we see our universe. Alpha has a more popular name — Cor
Caroli, the Heart of Charles. It shines brightly near the Big
Dipper in one of the sky’s more obscure constellations, Canes
Venatici, the Hunting Dogs. Around 10 p.m., look for the Dipper
high in the northeastern sky. To the left of the Dipper’s
handle, find a flat triangle of stars. The middle (and
brightest) star of the triangle is Cor Caroli. The star is about
120 light years distant (about 720 trillion miles), which puts
it in our galactic neighborhood. The su