Spot the asterism! :-)

[great_bear]

This particular asterism always charms me when I trip over it - which is often. It looks like the coathanger but it's much smaller than that. It's quite distinctive and shows up well even in binoculars and small scopes. It always grabbed my attention

But does anyone here come across this one often too?

It's time to play "spot the asterism"!

Can anyone name the constellation where this can be found? (no cheating!)

Also - for interest - does anyone know if this asterism has a name or if there are any interesing facts about it?

[AstroNinja]

I believe there is a mini Coathanger in Ursa Minor?

Jon

[richbyers]

if i squint it looks like hercules, doubt it though

rich

[great_bear]

No correct guesses so far.

Here it is again (circled), as seen in 12x50 binoculars, to give a sense of scale, in full simulated London light-polluted Stellarium beauty. Despite its small size, it does catch your eye when panning around in real life.

[barkis]

My guess would be Aquila, or Lyra as the candidates for the Constellation. Can't place the small asterism though.

Ron.

[themos]

astrometry.net found it very quickly!

[great_bear]

astrometry.net found it very quickly!

Yes, that would fall under the "cheating" category, I'd say!

I'll post the answer tomorrow morning if no-one's got it by then...

(I thought someone would spot it straight away, to be honest!)

[jgs001]

Is it in Bootes near Arcturus ?? Yes, I'm sure it is... I think I caught it on my test image last night ...

[great_bear]

Is it in Bootes near Arcturus?

Nope!

(Clues? Well - think "higher"...)

[jgs001]

Oh well.. ...

Ursa Major (Great Bear ) then ?

[themos]

getting warm... it's at about +60 deg declination.

[Steve25]

Is it in Cepheus

Steve

[Llamanaut]

The coat hanger in sagitta?

[richbyers]

put us out of our misery haha

[Andrew*]

I've got it

Perseus.

The asterism is known as it stands, because it's masked by the fame of the object(s) that sits right in the middle of it - the Perseus double cluster.

There's a very nice cascade of stars that goes upwards from the cluster (at this orientation), which is lovely to view wide-field.

Andrew

[great_bear]

Is it in Cepheus

It is indeed in Cepheus!

[Andrew*]

Right.... Thoroughly embarrassed! However, I have to say it's amazing how similar it looks to the bright stars around the DC, although much smaller.

I didn't realise quite how small the shape was.

Andrew

[great_bear]

I didn't realise quite how small the shape was.

Small - but bright too - it really cuts through the LP in London skies. Another curious thing that I've discovered about this attractive little multiple companion to Zeta Cephei, is that Alpha Cephei has a similar multiple companion too - and at a similar distance. I've shown Alpha Cephei's companion in blue in the picture below (also Zeta's one in green, as before).

Worth a look - they're pretty.