Rosette Nebula - Monoceros

Object data: Located some 13 degrees to the east of Orion, the Rosette Nebula (NGC 2244) is another spectacular object of the winter Milky Way. More than 1 degree across, it is a large area of star clustering, star formation, and glowing ionized gas fuelled by the hottest stars in the central region. In the dense central region gases and dust have most rapidly condensed into new stars, causing the 'hollowed out' appearance. Date: 09/02/05 Location: Southern France Conditions: Calm, no dew, transparency=9, seeing=8 Optics: Astro-Physics 155 EDF f/7 working at f/5.2 with AP reducer. Mount: AP 900 GTO on Portable Pier Camera: SBIG ST-8E / CFW-8 Guiding: Integral ST-8E autoguider Exposure: LRGB: Luminance: 8x10 minutes; RGB: 10:10:20 minutes binned 2x2 Processing: Image acquisition and initial processing was done using Maxim DL, subsequent processing was done using RegiStar and Photoshop. The processing method has been recently updated based on Russell Croman's resources page and advice from Adam Block for which I am indebted. Notes: This is my first CCD attempt at the Rosette and replaces my film image taken as long ago as 1998!