Ukrainian Ironbelly: A photographer’s tribute

Ukrainian Ironbelly: A tribute

J-P Metsavainio is a Finnish astrophotographer whose outstanding Milky Way mosaic we featured in 2021. This week, he emailed word of this new image of Sharpless 114, the Flying Dragon Nebula. He said he’s dedicated the image – which he calls Ukrainian Ironbelly – to the people of Ukraine. Here’s the story of the image in his own words.

A few days ago I was working with my new photo, showing a rarely imaged object, Sharpless 114, in the eastern part of constellation Cygnus the Swan. The official nickname for the object is the Flying Dragon Nebula. As I worked with this photo, I had a strong feeling that I had seen it before, but I couldn’t remember where.

I woke up in the middle of the night realizing that I’d seen this nebula in the movie Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2. (Yes, I’m a nerd.)

There is a magical creature in a movie, a massive dragon called the Ukrainian Ironbelly. It turned out to be the creature that, among other things, helped Ukrainians during World War I as a “wizarding air force“. (This is from the Harry Potter Fandom Wiki.)

I believe that this can be a great symbol for the Ukrainian fight against the Russian invasion.

This is also a great symbol for a modern version of the Ukrainian Ironbelly, the Turkish-made drone, Bayraktar-TB2, a most important weapon in the war against Russians tanks in Ukraine. As a dragon, this drone produces a steel melting “jet of fire” against Russian main battle tanks and saves countless Ukrainian lives as we speak.

This is an extremely personal art project to me as a Finnish citizen. We have a 1340-km (830-mile) common border with Russia, and there is a huge risk that we might be the next victims of the brutal dictator of Russia.

All proceeds from the sale of this NFT will go to efforts supporting the Ukrainian people during this war.

The dragon in Cygnus

Bottom line: Astrophotographer J-P Metsavainio dedicated this image of the Flying Dragon Nebula – which he has redubbed the Ukrainian Ironbelly – to the people of Ukraine.