The Rosette Nebula and Surrounding Region
The Cluster inside the nebula is NGC 2244; various parts of the nebula were assigned independent NGC numbers (NGC 2239, NGC 2238, NGC 2237, and NGC 2246).
(click here for larger size: High Resolution (~1.5Mb) or Maximum Resolution (~7.1Mb), or click image for maximum resolution:
See below for an earlier attempt at imaging the Rosette.
Image acquisition and processing details:
| Telescope: | Takahashi Epsilon 180, f/2.8 |
| Mount: | Astro-Physics AP1200 |
| Camera: | SBIG STL11000M cooled to -25C and -30C, external guiding with SBIG e-Finder and ST-402ME cooled to -20C. |
| Filters, Exposure Times: | Total exposure time = 14 hours 10 min. AstroDon Generation 2 Red=120 min, Green=180 min, and Blue=170 min (10 min subframes). AstroDon 3nm Hydrogen Alpha 380 min (19x20 min subs). Additional data was obtained but discarded. |
| Dates: | various 11/19/09 to 11/25/09. |
| Moon Phase: | various. |
| Location: | Xanadu Observatory, backyard roll-off in Tucson, AZ |
| Software: | CCDCommander, MaximDL, FocusMax, TheSky, CDDInspector, CCDStack, Adobe Photoshop CS4, Noel Carboni's Astronomy Tools. |
| Notes: | Hydrogen Alpha data was used to enhance the contrast between the
nebula and background sky. I used some techniques developed by
Dean Salman to maintain star colors. The Astronomy Tools plug-in
for Photoshop was used to enhance the nebulosity. There is more
faint nebulosity in the background, but I chose not to push the
processing on that in order to keep the brighter main nebula as the main
attraction. This image was taken prior to some camera adjustments
were made, so some of the brighter stars bloomed, and although I
attempted to correct the blooms, you'll see artifacts if you zoom in. The Rosette is a very large object, spanning roughly a full degree of sky - it would make our full moon look tiny if we could see it with our naked eyes! Newborn stars are still forming in the center of the nebula, and the brighter stars are exciting the nebula and making it emit radiation. |
Below is an image of the Rosette that I took in 2006 with a William Optics Zenithstar 105mm refractor at f/5.6 and ST-10XME camera:
