The Rosette Nebula - at last an opportunity to get some data!

[steppenwolf]

The Rosette Nebula

 

Description

Also designated as Caldwell 49 and Sharpless SH2-275, the Rosette Nebula constitutes several different objects and this central core region includes NGC 2237, 8, 9 and 2246. Closely associated with the nebula is the open star cluster NGC 2244. This beautiful nebula is well named as in RGB images, it does indeed look like a rosette although in this version which comprises 3nm Hydrogen Alpha (Ha) and 3nm Doubly Ionised Oxygen (OIII) filtering, I have chosen a colour palette that emphasizes the detail rather than trying to emulate a standard colour image.

Lying in the constellation of Monoceros, roughly 10 degrees to the east south-east of the bright star Betelguese, this is a very popular winter object although because of poor weather, I have only been able to tackle it this season in the last couple of weeks which means that at my latitude, it sets below my local horizon by a rather early 11:30!

The Rosette Nebula is a region of intense star formation. The stellar winds from the young stars within the nebula exert a high pressure on the interstellar clouds, compressing them and it is this compression that leads to ongoing star formation.

There are several obscuring dark veins of matter (not to be confused with ‘veins of dark matter’!) within the nebula. Close examination of these veins reveals tiny dark blobs of material. These dark blobs are known as Bok Globules (named after the Dutch born Harvard Professor Bartholomeus (Bart) Jan Bok). Bok suggested that the globules were at one time attached to umbilical filaments of neutral Hydrogen gas. Radiation from local stars first separated and then compressed the filaments leaving individual small areas of matter that continued to contract under the pull of their own gravity until they formed the globules visible today. It is believed that these globules contain primeval dust clouds from which new stars are being formed.

Image Stats

Mount: Mesu 200
Telescope: Sky-Watcher Esprit 150
Flattener: Sky-Watcher Esprit specific
Camera: QSI 683 WSG-8
Filter: Astrodon 3nm Ha, 3nm OIII
Subframes: 11 x 1800 sec bin 1x1 Ha, 13 x 1800 sec bin 1x1 OIII
Integration: 12 hours
Control: CCD Commander
Capture: MaxIm DL
Calibration, Stacking and Deconvolution: PixInsight
Post-Processing: PhotoShop PS3

Location

Constellation	Monoceros
RA	06° 31' 45.6"
DEC	+04° 56' 52.77"
Distance	~5,220ly

[PhotoGav]

That's a beauty, Steve. How wonderful to have had sufficient clear and dark skies to actually gather enough data to make an image. It feels like forever since that has been possible. This is a fabulous target, with so much going on in the Bok Globules area and you have done it great justice. I would have liked the image to have been presented 'the other way up', i.e. rotated through 180˚, but that is only so that I could make out more easily The Donkey, The Duck, The Leaping Leopard and The Labrador's Head within the dusty bits!!

[steppenwolf]

23 minutes ago, PhotoGav said:

I would have liked the image to have been presented 'the other way up', i.e. rotated through 180˚, but that is only so that I could make out more easily The Donkey, The Duck, The Leaping Leopard and The Labrador's Head within the dusty bits!!

I pondered this very point for some time but decided that I rather liked the 'curtain' of filaments across the top left hand corner of the image!! 🤣 I need even MORE magnification to do the Leaping Leopard justice!

25 minutes ago, PhotoGav said:

How wonderful to have had sufficient clear and dark skies to actually gather enough data to make an image. It feels like forever since that has been possible.

I'm with you there, it has been a terrible winter for imaging so I am delighted to have at least something to show for it .......

[CraigT82]

Wow what a beauty that is, it's like looking through a tunnel of flame in zero G! 

If you don't mind sharing how did you get to that colour palette with a HOO combination? 

[Allinthehead]

Beautiful colour, sharpness and processing. 

[steppenwolf]

2 minutes ago, CraigT82 said:

If you don't mind sharing how did you get to that colour palette with a HOO combination

No problem, Craig. This was it:-

1. Process both Ha and OIII in PS3 to produce similar brightness/contrast mono images

2. Generate a standard HOO image (Ha mapped to Red, OIII mapped to Green and Blue channels)

3. Use Noel Carboni's action 'Synthesize Green' to generate a unique Green channel

4. Use the Hue/Saturation tool to set 'Red' data to a more 'Gold' colour

5. Apply the usual 'Gold/Turquoise (SII/Ha/OIII)' adjustments

I did some final tweaks using Levels and Curves to achieve the brightness/contrast I wanted

Hope that helps.

 

[steppenwolf]

1 minute ago, Allinthehead said:

Beautiful colour, sharpness and processing. 

Thank you!

[peter shah]

Beautiful detail Steve top work.

[CraigT82]

Thanks for the processing info Steve.

5 hours ago, steppenwolf said:

The Rosette Nebula is a region of intense star formation. The stellar winds from the young stars within the nebula exert a high pressure on the interstellar clouds, compressing them and it is this compression that leads to ongoing star formation

Since you mentioned this... I'm sure that the people over at the HOYS citizen science project would love to have some of your stacked and calibrated linear Ha data uploaded to their photometry data site, it's really easy to do and NGC2244 is one of the clusters they are looking at. Just thought I'd mention it in case you weren't already aware of the project.

[John Nodding]

...(exhales and shakes head in amazement....no words) 👀

 

👍🏻 Noddy

[tooth_dr]

Really great detail Steve. The colour is actually very pleasing too.

[Philter]

Wow! That is stunning.

[MartinB]

Beautiful work Steve.  The colour scheme shows the dusty filaments perfectly.

[steppenwolf]

21 hours ago, peter shah said:

Beautiful detail Steve top work.

Thank you, Peter, I'm pleased you like it!

2 hours ago, MartinB said:

Beautiful work Steve.  The colour scheme shows the dusty filaments perfectly.

Oh the joys of narrowband, Martin, allowing you to choose any colour you like just to get the contrast you need!

18 hours ago, John Nodding said:

...(exhales and shakes head in amazement....no words)

I guess that means you like it, John 🤣

20 hours ago, CraigT82 said:

I'm sure that the people over at the HOYS citizen science project would love to have some of your stacked and calibrated linear Ha data uploaded to their photometry data site, it's really easy to do and NGC2244 is one of the clusters they are looking at. Just thought I'd mention it in case you weren't already aware of the project.

I wasn't aware but will have a look into this - thanks for the heads up.

17 hours ago, tooth_dr said:

Really great detail Steve. The colour is actually very pleasing too.

Thanks, Adam, I do love narrowband colouring - such freedom to explore!

6 hours ago, Philter said:

Wow! That is stunning.

Thank you, I'm delighted that you like it.