| NGC 2244 and NGC 2237-9,46 |
The Rosette Nebula
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| Image Information |
| Date Imaged |
10/26/2008 |
| Location Imaged From |
Barking Pumpkin Observatory, Tierra del Sol , CA
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| Equipment |
Telescope: Orion 80ED
Mount: LX200 on an Ulti-wedge
Camera: SBIG ST-2000XM, Astrodon True-balance filters
Focal Ratio: f/7.5 |
| Exposure Information |
Data collected over 4 nights; Ha 10/17/2008. RGB 10/24,25,26/2008
Ha = 8 X 30 minutes
Red = 15 X 15 minutes
Green= 12 X 15 minutes
Blue = 12 X 15 minutes |
The Rosette Nebula is a large, circular H II region located near one end of a giant molecular cloud in the Monoceros region of the Milky Way Galaxy. The open cluster NGC 2244 is closely associated with the nebulosity, the stars of the cluster having been formed from the nebula's matter.
The complex has the following NGC designations:
NGC 2237 - Part of the nebulous region (Usually used to denote whole nebula)
NGC 2238 - Part of the nebulous region
NGC 2239 - Part of the nebulous region (Discovered by John Herschel)
NGC 2244 - The open cluster within the nebula (Discovered by John Flamsteed in 1690)
NGC 2246 - Part of the nebulous region
The cluster and nebula lie at a distance of some 5,200 light years from Earth (although estimates of the distance vary considerably) and measure roughly 130 light years in diameter. The radiation from the young stars excite the atoms in the nebula, causing them to emit radiation themselves producing the emission nebula we see. The mass of the nebula is estimated to be around 10,000 solar masses.
It is believed that stellar winds from a group of O and B stars are exerting pressure on interstellar clouds to cause compression, followed by star formation in the nebula. This star formation is currently still ongoing.
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