Brocchi's Cluster

[seeker372011 (Narayan)]

The other day--maybe a week or so ago- when there were a couple of clear nights to be had, I stumbled on Brocchi's cluster while casually scanning the sky with binos

Though I had never observed this asterism before I recognised it immediately and it is quite a delightful object and I just thought I'd mention it as it's well worth inspection.

the best thing is it actually looks like a coat hanger for Southern hemisphere observers, (its upside down for the Northern hemisphere of course)

and if you are in the vicinity, and observing with a telescope, how nice a double star is Albireo..and how long has it been since you last had a look?

[janoskiss (Steve H)]

Recently I was observing under northern skies for the first time, for a few weeks. On our first clear night under dark skies, "the coathanger" was the first thing we found through binos, and thereafter it became one of our prime reference objects. Nice bino object, especially for the kids!

[Astroman (Andrew Wall)]

I use this as a reference point to find that planetary nebula thats near there, now whats it called ummmm ahhhhh the Dumbbell or is that Dumbell

Great Asterism, one of my choice targets when I get some tracking going with a camera.