Brocchi`s Cluster aka The Coathanger

[LostNSpace]

Hi All

Brocchi`s Cluster is what is called an Asterism (A pattern of stars seen in the night sky which is not an official constellation) .....The stars are in the same general direction but are not physically related to each other as they all have significantly different distances from earth. But make shapes easy to identify......It is made up of 10 bright stars between mag5 and mag 7 and a few fainter stars......6 of its brighter stars are lined up in a row and from the centre of this row 4 brighter stars make up the hook.......

Apparently it is a naked eye cluster under dark skies, and can be found between Altair and Vega......It was like trying to find a needle in a haystack though. I finally found it by using IC1299 as a start point as the cluster looks like a next door neighbour to IC1299 on Stellarium......

Love or hate clusters, i think this one was worth at least one attempt.......

I have to apologise for my poor image of it though....I had taken 25 x 25sec subs, and although the image looked ok on the camera screen, when i uploaded them all the stars were bloated and well out of focus, as i call them, donut stars.....I must of knocked the focusser without realising.....I had already packed away by this time but even if i hadnt it was getting too light to take anymore images......

This image is only one sub of 25secs at ISO800.....

(click to enlarge)

Mark

[dogfish]

Nice. A great sight in binoculars so good to see it imaged.

Cheers, Martin

[LostNSpace]

Thanks Martin......

I had never even heard of it until last week.....

I`ll have to get a more focussed image of it next time though, it is a poor image...... just to add to my collection.....