Listed by Philbert .J. Melotte in his 1915 catalog, R.J. Trumpler was the first to conclusively demonstrate that 37 of the stars were true members of the cluster. Mel 111, also known less frequently as Collinder 256, is a conspicuous, very large and loose gathering of 5th and 6th magnitude stars. At a distance measured by the Hipparcos mission at 280 light years (86 parsecs), it is the third nearest star cluster star cluster to Earth, with 38 confirmed members brighter than m. 9.3 within a circle of radius 12 degrees. The brightest members are:

12 Comae, m. 4.81, a spectroscopic binary (classes G0 III + A3V) plus two visual

companions magnitudes 11.0 and 8.3 at distances of 35" and 65", respectively.

31 Comae, m. 4.95, and spectral class G0 III

14 Comae, m. 4.95, and spectral class F0

16 Comae, m. 4.96, and spectral class A4 V

13 Comae, m. 5.18, and spectral class A3 V

17 Comae, m. 5.24, and spectral class A0, a double with a companion of m 6.7 west 2.5'.

21 Comae, m. 5.44, and spectral class A2

The two brightest G0 giant stars, 12 and 31 Comae, are the two whitish-colored stars near the top and at either side of the main grouping of stars shown here. The majority of the remaining brighter members are conspicuously bluish A-class stars. The image is oriented with north to lower right, and spans a field of view of nearly 14° 41' x 9° 46'.

Melotte 111 is a Trumpler Type II 3 p open cluster with a central concentration covering 5° of arc, with fainter members reaching out to nearly 7.5° of arc. It appears large on the sky due to its proximity to the Sun, travelling nearly parallel to the Sun's motion within the Milky Way; therefore, its members can be easily distinguished by their low radial velocity. A spectacular sight in binoculars, one might get the impression of numerous stars packed in close proximity, but the density of stars in the central portion of the cluster is barely three times the density of stars in the vicinity of the Sun. The cluster contains members down to approximately magnitude 10, but no fainter, and with a total mass of only 100 times the solar mass and age of 500 million years, it is likely the gravitational attraction was insufficient to prevent their loss.

The constellation Coma Berenices also is notable for containing one of the densest concentrations of galaxies on the sky, several of which are distinct in this image. Spiral galaxy NGC 4631 is visible at far left, and the often-imaged "Needle Galaxy", NGC 4565 or Caldwell 38, is distinct just below the main portion of the cluster. Numerous other spiral and elliptical galaxies are scattered across the field of view.

This image was obtained with a wide-angle lens as a preliminary study to evaluate the potential for a nine-pane mosaic with my 80mm refractor. That work is underway, and I hope to post a higher resolution version in the near future.