THE CHRISTMAS TREE AND CONE REGION
NGC 2264 - EMISSION NEBULA PLUS CLUSTER IN MONOCEROS

Just north of Orion in the winter Milky Way constellation of Monoceros, this area of nebulosity makes up one of the most colorful and exciting areas of the night sky.  Pictured above is NGC 2264, an open cluster of stars known as the "Christmas Tree" due to its characteristic shape.  At the top of the image, and pictured in the inset below, is the Cone Nebula, an areas of stellar growth activity that is one of the more pictured areas of the sky.  The rolling nebulosity around the center of the image is known as the "Foxfur."  Also pictured here at the lower left corner of the image is NGC 2259, a 10.8 magnitude open star cluster.

Date: December 8, 2004 (Ha info) and December 10, 2004 (color info)
Location: The Ballauer Observatory near Azle, Texas (Ha info) and Comanche Springs near Crowell, Texas (color info)
Transparency: 4.8 mag zenithal (Ballauer Observatory) and 6.8 mag zenithal (Comanche Springs)
Seeing: 2/10 (Ballauer Observatory) and 3/10 (Comanche Springs)
Temperature: 55 degrees F (Ballauer Observatory) and 38 degrees F (Comanche Springs); camera cooled to -25 degrees C
Scope/Mount: Tak FSQ-106 @ f/5 and Tak NJP mount
Camera: SBIG STL-6303E, self-guided
Exposure Info: Ha(Ha+R)GB, 180:30:30:30 minutes; 15 minute individual exposures for Ha and 2 minute exposures for RGB; all unbinned.
Processing: Dark frame calibration, deblooming, registration, artificial flats, gradient removal and Sigma Combine in MaxIm DL 4. Digital Development and RGB combine in MaxIm DL 4.  Ha blending, color balance, curves, levels, selective sharpening/blurring/despeckle in Photoshop CS.

Extra Notes:  Ha info blended into red at 70%.  Ha info then used again as luminance at 50%.  A string was taped to end of aperture to create the diffraction spikes.

 Astronomi   Nebula Resimler     Astrophotography  Galaxy Resimler    Yıldız Resimler

Copyright(c) 2003 - 2004 - Cetinbal  - All rights reserved.