You\u2019ll find the Coathanger asterism in the constellation of Vulpecula, which can be seen halfway up the horizon in the southeast around 11pm in the middle of July.<\/p>\n
![\""Collinder\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/25\/2019\/02\/Coll399-4250c00.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C461"\" "\\"\"Coathanger_001\"\\"")
<\/div>The reason you would wait so late to look for it is due to the long summer daylight hours, but as the weeks roll on you\u2019ll be able to catch the asterism earlier and earlier.<\/p>\n
The Coathanger forms the main part of an open star cluster<\/a> called Brocchi\u2019s Cluster, also known as Collinder 399, although recent studies have cast doubt on whether any of the stars are actually related.<\/p>\n To find it you can use another, much bigger asterism \u2013 the Summer Triangle (one of our favourite summer constellations<\/a> and asterisms) and perform a simple star hop<\/a>.<\/p>\n This grouping is made up of three bright and easily found stars in the southern skies: mag. +1.3 Deneb (Alpha Cygni) on the top left; mag. 0.0 Vega (Alpha Lyrae) on the top right; and at the bottom, mag. +0.8 Altair (Alpha Aquilae).<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Lock your binoculars onto Altair. A short distance above it you\u2019ll find mag. +2.7 Tarazed (gamma Aquilae).<\/p>\n Altair, Tarazed and Vega are almost aligned, and it\u2019s this imaginary line that you want to move along towards Vega.<\/p>\n As you go, you will see the almost identical stars of Alpha and Beta Sagittae, both mag. +4.4, in the left of your field of view.<\/p>\n The Coathanger will appear a little farther on. In all, you will have shifted your gaze approximately one-third of the distance from Altair to Vega.<\/p>\n By Anton Vamplew Published: Tuesday, 03 August 2021 at 12:00 am A great target to observe in the night sky is a group of 10 stars that appear to take the shape of a coathanger. This is an asterism, a recognisable pattern of stars that\u2019s not one of the 88 formal constellations. You\u2019ll find the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":0,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"2"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Anton Vamplew Published: Tuesday, 03 August 2021 at 12:00 am A great target to observe in the night sky is a group of 10 stars that appear to take the shape of a coathanger. This is an asterism, a recognisable pattern of stars that\u2019s not one of the 88 formal constellations. You\u2019ll find the…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/21525"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}How to find the Coathanger asterism<\/strong><\/h1>\n
![\""Summer\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/25\/2020\/03\/Screenshot-2020-03-26-at-14.30.04-32d74d1.png?quality=90&resize=620%2C548"\" "\\"\"The\\"")
<\/div>![\""The\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/25\/2019\/02\/Cr399_160710_2400-c628361.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413"\" "\\"\"Coathanger_002\"\\"")
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