Object: The Rosette Nebula (NGC-2237)
Date: 2/16/04
Location: My backyard, Las Cruces, NM
Telescope: TeleVue 85mm refractor (f/5.6) piggyback on a Meade 10" LX200
Guiding: 208XT
Camera: Canon Digital Rebel (300D) @ Prime Focus
Exposure: 12x5min (LPS filter) + 12x5min (H-alpha filter)
Processing: Raw images converted to 16bit TIFF, darkframe subtraction, alignment and stacking (adaptive addition) performed in ImagesPlus for both sets of images. H-alpha luminance channel was stretched and averaged with the LPS luminance data. Final levels and curves (color balance) were adjusted in Photoshop. Noise smoothed using SGBNR2
Comments: This is the beautiful Rosette Nebula in the constellation Monoceros. This doughnut shaped emission nebula includes the open cluster NGC-2244 which may have recently formed from the cloud of gas and dust. This object is quite large at over a degree in diameter. It's estimated to be at a distance of 2600 light years from the Earth and some 55 light-years in diameter.

© Dave Dockery 2004.