The Cone Nebula in Hydrogen Alpha
Characteristics:
Magnitude: 3.9 (for bluish Christmas tree
cluster region)
Size: About 1 degree (including Cone Nebula and
Christmas Tree Cluster region)
Distance: 2400 light years (Cone Nebula)
RA: 6h 41m 06s
Dec: 9 degrees 52' 59"
Description:
The Cone Nebula is the conical dark
nebula in the lower left corner of the field, pointing
towards the prominent Christmas Tree Cluster (so named because it looks
like a Christmas tree when viewed vertically). This region is
referred to as NGC 2264 and is part of a larger nebula complex called
the Monoceros Loop, that includes the Rosette Nebula.
I framed this in order to capture the
prominent dark nebula in the lower right half of the image. This
region is full of Ha emission, flooding the field with a diffuse white
"glow."
Photographic Details:
Date: 1/16/06.
Scope: Takahashi
Sky 90 at f4.5 with field flattener/focal reducer, on the G11 Losmandy
Mount.
Autoguider: SBIG STV with
e-finder.
Camera: Maxcam CM10. The image scale of this set up is
3.46"/pixel, with a FOV of approximately 1.4 x 2 degrees.
Filter: Astronomiks
Ha
filter (6 nm bandpass).
Exposures: 24 x 10' each. Total
exposure 4 hours.
Conditions: Temperature 20 degrees F, average
transparency; average seeing; a few clouds; intermittent breeze; waning
gibbous moon.
Image
Processing: Subs were debloomed with Ron Wodaski's Debloomer
software, calibrated and aligned in MaximDL. Sigma combined using
RC Sigma Reject
MaximDL, followed by DDP
in ImagesPlus (IP). Subsequent
processing in Photoshop CS (16
bit format).
Please
note: Graphics on this website may not be reproduced without
author permission.
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