Coathanger (Collinder 399)
An open cluster of about 40 stars in
the constellation 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 catalogue 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' |
Related category
• NEBULAE
AND STAR CLUSTERS
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