A Prelude To Winter Deep Sky Objects (stars, light, telescope)

[orogenicman]

This is an image I took last December 8, but never was satisfied with the results. I've reprocessed it, which I think gave much better results. Unfortunately, the image is slightly out of focus (the bright stars should not have double diffraction spikes), and the object isn't centered in the image. I am hoping to get a much better result this year, as this is on my re-do list.



NGC 2237 - The Rosette Nebula, in the direction of the constellation of Monoceros

The Rosette Nebula is a large, diffuse emission nebula located 3000 light-years away (so large, in fact, that I can't get it all in view at the focal plane of my telescope). The great abundance of hydrogen gas gives NGC 2237 its red color in most photographs. The wind from the open cluster of stars known as NGC 2244 has cleared a hole in the nebula's center.

[Six Foot Three]

Orogenicman

So am i understanding you correctly that you can see these nebulas with just a personal telescope? (is that what you call the scope?)

[orogenicman]

Originally Posted by 6 Foot 3

Orogenicman

So am i understanding you correctly that you can see these nebulas with just a personal telescope? (is that what you call the scope?)

Not visually with my scope, no. At least not this one. With a much larger scope (say, a 25" obsession), possibly, in very dark skies. Other nebulas are visible with a small telescope.

The image above is a stack of six five-minute exposures at ISO 1600 for a total exposure length of 30 minutes. I am hoping to get about 2 hours of exposure this winter on this object. That will bring out far more detail than this image shows. My telescope is an f5 200mm (8") newtonian modified for astrophotography.