Lynx

Lynx is a constellation in the northern hemisphere's sky, introduced in the 17th century by Johannes Hevelius. It is named after the lynx, a genus of cat. It is a very faint constellation; its brighest stars from a zigzag line.

History

Johannes Hevelius defined the constellation in the 17th century because he wanted to fill the open gap between the constellations Ursa Major and Auriga. He supposedly named it Lynx because of its faintness; only the lynx-eyed (or those of good sight) would have been able to recognise it.

Notable features

The star 31 Lyncis, or κ Lyn, is also known as Alsciaukat (from the Arabic for the thorn), is the only named star in this constellation.

Lynx's most notable deep sky object is the Intergalactic Tramp NGC 2419, a globular cluster that is the most distant known of its kind. It is moving faster than escape velocity at that distance; however, it appears to be in a long elliptical orbit around our galaxy, the Milky Way, and is thus not expected to escape. [The two facts in the previous sentence are contradictory: escape velocity means the velocity at which it will escape.] It also contains, nearly at the border with Cancer, the galaxy NGC 2683.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynx_(constellation)