Post by Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe on Jul 16, 2004 2:10:00 GMT -6
I have been observing this unusual formation of stars for a long time, but never knew the name of it, and wondered what it was....Till now.
Called the "Coathanger" or Brocchi's Cluster, it has this straight line of stars from lower left to upper right, with a little curlycue of stars in the center. I have always been fascinated with this field of stars as it looks too straight and true to be a random gathering.
I stumbled upon it as a kid and now pass it on my way to nebuli hunting. I am certainly glad now that I know what I have been admiring for so long and rather embarrassed that I didn't know earlier.
Everyday, learning something new.
Called the "Coathanger" or Brocchi's Cluster, it has this straight line of stars from lower left to upper right, with a little curlycue of stars in the center. I have always been fascinated with this field of stars as it looks too straight and true to be a random gathering.
An open cluster of about 40 stars in Vulpecula. Six of its brighter stars, of sixth and seventh magnitude, are lined up in a nearly perfect row, from the center of which four stars form a hook to complete the coathanger shape. The cluster was first described by Al-Sufi in A.D. 964 and rediscovered independently by Giovanni Hodierna. It was included in Per Collinder’s 1931 catalog of open clusters and is also known as Brocchi’s Cluster after the American amateur astronomer D. F. Brocchi who created a map of it in the 1920s for calibrating photometers. In the 1980s the Coathanger was found to share roughly the same motion with about 10 other clusters, including the Pleiades, NGC 6633, 6709, 6882, and 6885, and IC 4665. The Coathanger is best viewed through binoculars; to the naked eye, it appears as an unresolved patch at the border of Vulpecula and Sagitta.
Visual magnitude 3.6
Apparent diameter about 1°
Distance 420 light-years
Position R.A. 19h 25.4m, Dec. +20° 11'
Apparent diameter about 1°
Distance 420 light-years
Position R.A. 19h 25.4m, Dec. +20° 11'
I stumbled upon it as a kid and now pass it on my way to nebuli hunting. I am certainly glad now that I know what I have been admiring for so long and rather embarrassed that I didn't know earlier.
Everyday, learning something new.
