My Astro Photo Of The Day

[orogenicman]

NGC2264, in Monoceros

Clouds of glowing hydrogen gas fill this colorful skyscape in the faint but fanciful constellation Monoceros, the Unicorn. A star forming region cataloged as NGC 2264, the complex jumble of cosmic gas and dust is about 2,700 light-years distant and mixes reddish emission nebulae excited by energetic light from newborn stars with dark interstellar dust clouds. Where the otherwise obscuring dust clouds lie close to the hot, young stars they also reflect starlight, forming blue reflection nebulae. The field of view spans about 0.8 degrees or nearly 2 full moons, covering 43 light-years at the distance of NGC 2264. Its cast of cosmic characters includes the the Fox Fur Nebula, whose convoluted pelt lies at the upper left, bright variable star S Mon immersed in the blue-tinted haze just below the Fox Fur, and the Cone Nebula at the far right. Of course, the stars of NGC 2264 are also known as the Christmas Tree star cluster. The triangular tree shape traced by the stars appears sideways here, with its apex at the Cone Nebula and its broader base centered near S Mon.

Image:

10x5 minutes for a total of 50 minutes at ISO 1600
Stacked in DeepSkyStacker, Dark Subtracted
Processed in Adobe Photoshop CS3 Extended
Taken on December 8, 2010 at the Louisville Astronomical Society Observatory, in Curby, Indiana

Equipment:

200 mm f5 Konus Newtonian with Baader coma corrector and UV/IR cut filter
Losmandy G11 Gemini GOTO mount on Heavy Duty Tripod
80 mm f5 Orion Shorty Autoguide Scope with Starshooter autoguider