Rosette Nebula – NGC 2244

The Rosette was my first ever astrophotography image, so I always enjoy coming back to this target and capturing it.  It’s bright, it’s easy, and it’s full of color.  Located in the constellation Monoceros, sits about 5000 lightyears away from us.  It is anywhere from 120-140 lightyears across in diameter.

The Rosette is an emissions nebula, which just means the bright radiation from the young stars, most likely in the center region, excite the atoms in the nebula which makes them emit radiation themselves… such as Ha, Oiii, Sii signal that we capture in the telescope.