Finally shot this after more than 6 weeks of non-stop clouds and rain. Transparency was still pretty poor, along with strong wind, but any new data is better than no data at all 🙂
The Rosette Nebula (NGC 2237) is a large star-forming region in the constellation Monoceros, not far from Orion. In the middle of the nebula lies the open star cluster NGC 2244. Ultraviolet light from these bright stars excites the surrounding gas. The dark dust lanes and Bok globules likely contain newly formed stars and planets.
Date: 5 January 2018
Telescope: Teleskop-Service 80/480 triplet with 2″ TS 0.79X reducer/flattener
Camera: ZWO ASI1600MM-C with EFW-8 and ZWO 31mm filters
Mount: Skywatcher EQ5 Pro
Exposure: 1.3 hours
Ha 7 nm: 38 x 120 sec (gain: 200, bin 1×1, -15C)
Software: APT, PHD2, EQMOD, PixInsight
I used my DSLR data from last year (same telescope) to make a HaRGB version. Clearly, the poor H-alpha response of my old unmodified camera was a limiting factor in my imaging setup.
I’ve imaged this nebula 3 times in the past two years, and comparing these images clearly shows how my technique and equipment improved over time:
3 days later, I shot a small amount of OIII (14 minutes) and SII (16 minutes) in very poor skies. I used tonemapping to blend the 3 channels, and used Ha as a luminance layer.
The color balance was further altered to a more traditional gold/blue palette with the SCNR tool, along with a slightly stronger stretch.
Astro Virus 