Bird of Prey

[Andy01]

Resembling a swooping Klingon Bird of Prey, this pretty open star cluster is located in Vela. (and there are very few star clusters in Vela!)



IC 2395 is sillhouetted against an Ha rich background and surrounded by shockwaves of ionised oxygen from a nearby star that exploded as a supernova some 11,000 years ago.

This is a young stellar cluster being between 6 and 18 million years old.

Based on its young age and distance, it is possible that IC 2395 is part of the Vela OB1C stellar association.

The brightest member of the cluster has mag 5.53, and its bluest main sequence star is of spectral type B5.



LRGB was captured with my gear, on location at my mate's rural dark site on a NUC, using Voyager, amazing software! :thumbsup:

HA & O3 NB data was collected via the recently released and now rock solid Stellarmate 1.6.2, from my bortle 7 suburban backyard in Melbourne.

Not many (any?) detailed HaO3LRGB images of this cluster online, so please enjoy this overlooked gem on ASTROBIN (https://www.astrobin.com/full/lkhgrd/0/)

C&C welcome as always :D

[leon]

Wow Andy, that is a brilliant image indeed, well done.

leon

[strongmanmike]

Rather lovely image Andy, has a real Marco Lorenzi look and feel :)

Bit of a mini Southern Cross look to the cluster too.

Mike

[matlud]

Another great image and a lovely palette Andy! It amazing how many overlooked corners there are in Vela 👍😀

[Andy01]

Hmmm- seems pretty quiet here on IIS nowadays, so many thanks Leon, Mike & Matthew for the positive comments. :thumbsup:
@Mike yes, Marco is certainly well known for lovely HaO3Lrgb images!
@Matthew, thanks again for posting your earlier widefield Vela image, very handy reference when searching for something new to image! :thanx:

[AnakChan]

Fantastic capture Andy! And well processed too!!

[Ken]

Top job love the golden stars.
Clear skies Ken.

[LKD]

Wow, very nice

[Andy01]

@Sean, Ken & LKD- many thanks!
The Vela SNR is a wonderfully rich region that always delivers great opportunities for us amateur imagers. :thumbsup:

[gregbradley]

A beautiful image Andy. Loving this dark sky work.

I love everything about it.

Greg.

[JA]

Lovely image Andy:thumbsup:

I see the bird, but I immediately get more of the neural network vibe.

Best
JA

[Andy01]

@Greg, many thanks- dark skies are da bomb! (Marcus was right all along!) :D
@John, cheers - hopefully not skynet then! :lol:

[Benjamin]

Beautiful and inspiring as always. Feel like I don’t need the “pareidolic” reference though. It’s gorgeous just as intersecting lines around the vibrant cluster (I am a fan of abstract art though).

[Emuhead]

Really like the natural looking luminance of the star cluster, almost like i could be staring at the stars from nearby. Very nice detail & colour in the wispy parts too of course.

[Andy01]

@ Ben Cheers! Don't mind a bit of Kandinsky myself :D
(Sorry, don't know why the quoted text box thingy isn't working)






Thanks Andrew - Vela is the Astrophotographers 'Land of Milk & Honey' alright!


Incidentally it seems that this image is Astrobin's IOTD today :)

[topheart]

MajQa' Andy!

Cheers,
Tim

[AdamJL]

Really wonderful, Andy!

The little cluster makes this image. Beautiful off-centre framing of that target..

Congrats on IOTD as well.

[Andy01]

'IwlIj jachjaj :D




Thanks Adam, appreciate your taking the time to comment, cheers! :)

[Paul Haese]

I like the composition of this image Andy. Colour is within keeping to the biocolour theme.