places off-planet #6 – the ‘Coathanger’ asterism
Most people have never seen my favourite star grouping, but if you use binoculars and can locate two key stars, I think you could see it too. It is the ‘Coathanger’ asterism (or group of stars), also known as Collinder 366, Al Sufi’s Cluster, or Brocchi’s Cluster. It looks like a little upside-down coathanger. It was first described by the Persian astronomer Al Sufi in 964 AD!
The ‘Coathanger’ is in the constellation Vulpecula in the ‘Summer Triangle’. To find the ‘Coathanger’, use the binoculars to sweep the Milky Way from the star ‘Altair’ towards the bright star ‘Vega’. The ‘Coathanger’ is found about one-third of the way from Altair to Vega.
photo is from Wikimedia Commons
original contributor DannyZ
~
~
coat hangers, closets and stars
~
1.
metal hangers
aggravate
refuse to cooperate
jangled
tangled twisted
~
2.
her closet
built for grace
satin hangers
muffled plumped and padded
kind to arthritic hands
~
pearl buttons to catch
her dresses
before they slip
to the floor
~
3.
between Altair and Vega
Brocchis’ Coathanger Cluster
also known as Collinder 399
suspends the fabric of sky
~
with binoculars
this fuzzy patch of light
resolves
to ten splendid stars
~
strong little hanger
oversized hook
upside-down
~
~
© Jane Tims 2011
nichepoetryandprose 
Beautiful poetry. I’ll share this post’s information with my Mum as she is a lover of stars and has spent her life studying them. But I’ve never heard her mention this cluster.
LikeLike
Carol Steel
May 30, 2012 at 12:36 pm
Hi Carol. I am lucky because the roof of our house lines up with the Coathanger… all I have to do is step out my back door on a clear night in July and point my binoculars. Jane
LikeLike
jane tims
May 30, 2012 at 3:32 pm
Thanks, Jane for posting these star gazing photos…with poems. If it were not for you I’d still never be able to connect the dots so to speak. About the best I can do is to spot the big dipper…or was it the little dipper??? I’m hopeless at star gazing except to just enjoy the wonder of the night sky and some of the things they are finding out about the universe.
LikeLike
Merrill Ann Gonzales
May 26, 2012 at 5:13 pm
Hi. Enjoying the sky is the first step toward a lifetime of discoveries. Our feet may be on the ground, but we can also explore the stars! Jane
LikeLike
jane tims
May 26, 2012 at 5:29 pm
I like the combination of poem and prose, with very different angles (no pun intended!) on the subject. Nice to find your blog.
LikeLike
dianajhale
May 26, 2012 at 1:31 pm
Hi. I’m glad you found my blog. The poem was fun to write… it began as an exercise to write poetry about fabric, a project our writing group undertook. Jane
LikeLike
jane tims
May 26, 2012 at 2:27 pm
Great, interesting stuff, Jane. I used to be ‘into’ astronomy when I was younger, then, for some reason took a course on astrology, which was fascinating but now I appear to have grown out of it.
LikeLike
dfb
May 26, 2012 at 12:00 pm
One good thng about looking at the stars, plus or minus a cloudy night, they will always be there to see. Perhaps you’ll rediscover your interest some day. Jane
LikeLike
jane tims
May 26, 2012 at 2:22 pm
Lovely poem. And I’ll be looking for the coathanger
LikeLike
seedbud
May 26, 2012 at 8:21 am
Hi. Let me know if you find it! Jane
LikeLike
jane tims
May 26, 2012 at 2:20 pm