SOCO IMAGE GALLERY


 

NGC 2244   The Rosette Nebula

NGC 2244 is a large emission nebula and open cluster in the constellation Monoceros. The designation NDG 2244 actually corresponds to the cluster in the nebula, which was first described by the astronomer John Flamsteed in 1690. The nebula itself has various NGC numbers assigned to it (NGC 2237, 2238, 2239, and 2246) corresponding to various parts of the nebula. The nebula has a diameter of around 130 LY and is around 5200 LY away (although estimates vary). NGC 2244 is easily visible in binoculars lying off the left shoulder of Orion.
The cluster contains around 100 visible stars, many of which are young giants of spectral class O, which attests to the young age of this object (less than 5 million years). However, the brightest star in the central group of stars (HD 46241 = 12 Monocerotis, visual magnitude 5.88) is a foreground star only 562 LY from us— this is the bright star along the lower left side of the cavity in the nebula. The central cavity in the nebula is caused by the strong stellar winds from the actual cluster stars, in particular, HD 46223 and HD 46150. HD 46150 (visual magnitude 6.75) is the bright star at the very center of the cavity in the nebula, while HD 46223 (visual magnitude 7.29) is the star next to HD 46241 in the image. X-Ray images by the Chandra X-Ray Observatory indicate that dense molecular clouds hide another 2500 newly formed stars in this complex.

Date(s) Acquired: 18 February 2015
Telescope: Orion 120mm EON Apochromatic Refractor
Camera: QSI Model 583 with Optec NextGEN Ultra Widefield 0.7X Telecompressor

 

   Exposure Time (min) 
   Number of Exposures
   RGB
   1.5
   
   8
   
   8
   OIII
   8
   RGB
   10
   
   6
   
   6
   OIII
   6

 

Processing:
Master red, green, blue, Hα, Hβ and OIII images created using SuperSIAM.
Hybrid Master red, green and blue images created using Basic Processing Procedure II.
Color composite image created using Basic Processing Procedure III.
Color composite image contrast-stretched using Adobe Photoshop.




 

 

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