Aquila

pic of Coathanger

This picture was taken with a 28mm wide angle lens and shows part of the Milky Way stretching diagonally across the field of view from top left to bottom centre.

A satellite happened to pass during the 5 minute exposure. Incidentally, satellites are quite easy to spot with the naked eye. They appear as dots moving rapidly across the sky. The early part of the evening is the best time to look - you can only see the satellite if it is still in sunlight.

The "Coathanger" is what is known as an asterism. It isn't a true alignment of stars; they just appear that way as seen from Earth. Some of them are much closer than others. The official title for the Coathanger is Collinder 399. On the right is another picture taken with a 300mm zoom lens.

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