One of the most pleasing sky sights through binoculars or a small telescope can be found nearly overhead in our late evening midsummer sky. With the Moon out of the way this week, it is a good time to seek it out.

Most amateur astronomers have heard of such beautiful open star clusters as the Pleiades, Hyades and the Beehive. But have you ever heard of the "Coat Hanger"? Some evening this week, turn your binoculars to the region of the sky roughly halfway between the bright stars Vega and Altair and you will discover Brocchis Cluster in the rather dim and nondescript constellation of Vulpecula, the Little Fox.

In Collinders star catalogue, which was drawn up in 1931, it is cluster No. 399, hence its official designation, Collinder 399.

I accidentally stumbled across it more than 30 years ago while sweeping up and down the Milky Way with 7x35 binoculars. My original impression was that it resembled some sort of a ladle (and since I was visiting my Aunt Irma when I made the discovery, I unofficially christened it "Irmas Ladle").

Others, however, have seen it as a rather curious grouping of about a dozen tiny stars looking very much like an inverted coat hanger. In a clear, dark sky you might even perceive it with the naked eye as a fuzzy patch of light. This is one object that is best suited for binoculars; even a small telescope will provide too much magnification and will cause the stars to appear too widely spaced apart.

However, its really a proper coat hanger only for Southern Hemisphere observers, where it appears right side up. Because it's typically upside down in the Northern Hemisphere, not everyone sees Collinder 399 as a coat hanger. In fact, I once heard of one gentleman out in California who independently discovered it and later inquired as to "why this Fulcrum is never shown on star charts? It is a beautiful sight."

And indeed, now that Ive mentioned this allusion, it may cause many to see this cluster not as a coat hanger, but as a seesaw.

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