Daily Archives: 26 August 2015

Collinder 399: The Coat Hanger

Posted on 26 August 2015 by adjutant

Is this coat hanger a star cluster or an asterism? This cosmic hang-up has been debated over much of last century, as astronomers wondered whether this binocular-visible object is really a physically associated open cluster or a chance projection. Chance star projections are known as asterisms, an example of which is the popular Big Dipper.…