Lynx, constellation in the northern sky at about 8 hours right ascension and 50° north in declination. Its brightest star is Alpha Lyncis, with a magnitude of 3.2. Polish astronomer Johannes Hevelius invented this constellation in 1687. Since all the stars in the constellation are quite faint, Hevelius wrote that its name came from one needing the eyesight of a lynx to see it.