Vulpecula is not an ancient constellation but one that was created by Johannes Hevelius in the 17th century. Hevelius carved a lot of new constellations out of dim regions in the sky next to better known constellations.
Locating Vulpecula the Fox
Although Vulpecula the Fox is a dim constellation without any identifying stars, its area of space can be found easily because of its location within the Summer Triangle. Only Vulpecula and Sagitta the Arrow reside within the boundaries of the Summer Triangle. The Summer Triangle is formed by the three bright summer stars Altair in Aquila, Deneb in Cygnus and Vega in Lyra. Vulpecula runs along the border of Cygnus, right next to the well-known double star Albireo. On the opposite side of Vulpecula from Cygnus is Sagitta and Delphinus the Dolphin.
Stars in the Constellation Vulpecula
Although Vulpecula lies on the Milky Way, it is small in size (ranking 55th out of 88) and contains no bright stars of note. The one star grouping for which amateur astronomers come to Vulpecula is called the Coathanger. The Coathanger has a few other names, such as Brocchi's Cluster and Collinder 399. Although it was called a cluster, studies have shown that it is not a cluster at all but just a chance alignment of stars. This is made more clear when you learn that the distances to the 10 or so stars span a vast range, including 218 light-years, 400 light-years, 760 light-years, 901 light-years, and 1,132 light-years, to note a few.
The Coathanger consists of stars of magnitude 5 and 6. It is best seen through binoculars or a low-power telescope. Through binoculars the Coathanger will appear upside down, but through an inverted view of a telescope it will appear right side up. The Coathanger is a row of horizontal stars with a hook-shape on top, very much resembling its nickname. You can find the Coathanger about halfway between the star Albireo and Zeta Aquilae, the wing tip of the Eagle.
The Dumbbell Nebula in Vulpecula
The Dumbbell Nebula is one of amateur astronomers' favorite targets. It lies about eight and a half degrees east of Albireo. The Dumbbell Nebula, also known as M27, is magnitude 8.1. The first planetary nebula found, M27 was discovered by Messier in 1764. The Dumbbell can be seen in binoculars, and even a small telescope can bring out its slight hourglass shape. The nebula, which lies about 1,360 light-years away, was created when the central star blew off its envelope of gas at the end of its life.
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