Nov 22, 2024
The Omicron Velorum Cluster, C85 // Malcolm Park
Located about 574 light years away in the constellation of Vela, the Sails, is the Omicron Velorum Cluster (IC 2391). The Persian astronomer 'Abd al-Raḥmān al-Ṣūfī (903-986) described it as a "nebulous star" in about 964, although French astronomer Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille (1713-1762) is generally credited with its discovery in 1752.
The brightest star, and the namesake of the cluster, is o Velorum, a blue giant star about 5.5 times the mass and 4 times the radius of the Sun.