Rosette Nebula NGC2237

clic for 60% size 1708 x 1353 (532 kB)

Clic here for 60% size 1708 x 1353 (532 kB)

 

About this Image

The Rosetta Nebula is a vast cloud of dust and gas in 5500 light years distance, extending over an area of more than 1 degree across. Its parts have been assigned different NGC numbers: 2237, 2238, 2239, and 2246. Within the nebula the open star cluster NGC 2244 is situated, consisting of young stars which recently formed from the nebula's material. The brightest of them make the nebula shine by exciting its atoms to emit radiation. Star formation is still in progress in this vast cloud of interstellar matter; North is up. The H-alpha filtered image pronounces the difference between radiating gas and obscuring dust.

 



Technical Details
Optics

105mm TMB refractor with flattener at f/6.5

Mount MK-100 GEM
Camera SBIG STL-11000M at -25C, internal filter wheel
Filters Astronomik LRGB + H-alpha
Date 19 Mar 2004.
Location Wildon/Austria
Sky Conditions mag 5 sky, temperature 10 C
Exposure Ha:L = 60:30 minutes (10-minute sub-exposures), all 1x1.
Processing Image calibration, aligning, sigma clipped median stacking, DDP in ImagesPlus; H-alpha blended to L channel, final tweaking in Photoshop; cropped, size 21/60%;