Astronomy Boy: Constellation Portraits: Sagitta and Vulpecula


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Vulpecula – The Fox (top)
Sagitta – The Arrow (bottom)

To see labels, touch the image with your mouse cursor.

Objects visible in this photo include:

Planetary nebula M 27, the Dumbbell Nebula.

Globular cluster M 71.

NGC 6820 and 6823, a bright nebula and open cluster.

Albireo, the famous double star in Cygnus.

Brocchi's Cluster (Collinder 399), also known as The Coathanger because of its distinctive shape.

Vulpecula is a rather poor in stars but more than compensates with a variety of deep sky objects. Notable among them is the Dumbbell Nebula, which can be seen in binoculars and has a distictive two-lobed appearance in telescopes.

Data from the Hipparcos spacecraft has revealed that the stars of Brocchi's Cluster do not constitute a true cluster. Thus, the Coathanger asterism is a chance alignment of stars. Nevertheless, The Coathanger is a fine object in binoculars or a wide field telescope.

Sagitta is a constellation that actually looks like its namesake. One can easily imagine it as an arrow.

These two constellations lie in a beautiful portion of the Milky Way, which can be glimpsed as a hazy background in portions of the photo.

Location: Young's Farm Observing Site (YFOS) in central New Hampshire. YFOS is the dark sky site of the New Hampshire Astronomical Society.
Camera: Pentax ME
Lens: 50mm f/1.7 lens at f/2.8
Film: Kodak Elite Chrome 200 slide film
Exposure: 8 minutes, tracked with motor-driven barn door camera mount.

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