Day 147: Space stations and coathangers

I was disappointed to find that the final space shuttle mission would not make an evening appearance over Vancouver, but this week seems to be a good one for catching the International Space Station. Tonight (as on day 30) it's visible twice during the evening thanks to its 90-minute orbit of the Earth. The photo below was taken on its first pass while the sky was still blue.

A surprise awaited me when I was looking at the photo on the computer: towards the right-hand edge of the frame I noticed a familiar pattern of stars: the Coathanger Asterism, formally known as Brocchi's Cluster. I've marked it as a note on Flickr (click on the photo below to go there). I remember first discovering this upside-down coathanger in the sky when I was first getting into astronomy in the mid-to-late eighties. I don't think I've really thought about it much since then though, so it really was a pleasant surprise to re-discover this little patch of the sky.

ISS streaks through Aquila