Hi all, I have just uploaded another mosaic I took some months ago of a gorgeous couple couple of cluster in Puppis not so much imaged by amateur astronomers:
NGC 2451 and NGC 2477 in Puppis
NGC 2477 (at left in the image) is a glorious open cluster grouping over 300 members in an area almost as extensive as the full Moon. It has been called "one of the top open clusters in the sky", like a highly resolved globular cluster without the dense center characteristic of globular clusters. Although it is smaller than M46 (also an open cluster in Puppis), it is richer and more compact. It was discovered by Abbé Lacaille in 1751.
NGC 2451 (at right in the image) is far closer and sparser compared to his compact neighbor and has around 40 stars well dispersed with its brightest star being c puppis, a yellowish giant of magnitude 3,6. The cluster was discovered by Giovanni Batista Hodierna in 1654. Only in recent years it was confirmed that NGC 2451 was actually two open clusters that lie along the same line of sight, labeled NGC 2451A and NGC 2451B, located at distances of 600 and 1,200 light-years respectively.
The sky background is filled with faint Hydrogen emission of the GUM Nebula, giving the whole area a nice color contrast.
This is a mosaic of 2 panels, each one HaLRGB collecting about 12.5 hours of light for a total of 25 hours of light
I hope you will like this one as well and perhaps you will get an inspiration for a nice target to image next season
Clear skies
Marco