Collinder 399, The Coathanger

I was requested to have a go at imaging this one and since it was less demanding than the weather I had a go. Only 20 minutes each LRGB with the TMB80 & Televue 0.8 focal reducer.

Question is: Open cluster or asterism only?


ancarraigobservatory.co.uk/Coathangerzoom.htm

Ver nice shot! How did you get the diffraction spike effect?
I believe it is an asterism only but I could be wrong.

Very nice image of a delightful object ... the colours are captured beautifully.

It's definitely just an asterism. The entries in the Hipparcos astrometry mission catalog show that the stars lie at varying distances from each other. I can't remember the Sky and Telescope issue off-hand (it's at home somewhere at the mo) but Stephen James O'Meara wrote an article on the cluster and the Hipparcos results which proved it was an asterism.

atb,

John

Nice work Paul, always a favourite of mine when high in the sky. It's a great locator for near-by deep sky objects in the vicinity of Cygnus and Aquila. Colours are fab, and I also like the twinkle effect on the larger stars. Your shot seems to have caught a little star cluster bottom-left. Any idea if that is a registered object?

Seanie.

Wow! Great job Kieran on this non cluster !

As for the little cluster down left, it's NGC6802 I believe.

Keith..

Thanks Keith.