20220109 - NGC 2264 (MON) - The Cone / Christmas Tree / Fox fur / Snow Flake Nebula - Last Christmas I gave you my heart
What’s in the picture(s) -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC_2264Quote: “NGC 2264 is the location where the Cone Nebula, the Stellar Snowflake Cluster and the Christmas Tree Cluster have formed in this emission
nebula. For reference, the Stellar Snowflake Cluster is located 2,700
light years away in the constellation Monoceros. The
Monoceros constellation is not typically visible by the naked eye due to its lack of colossal stars.”
What was the experience
My main target for the night was M1 (previous post), but I also wanted to bring home an extra present for Christmas/New Year. Next to the Rosetta Nebula lies this formation of 4 objects intertwined, nebulae and clusters together.
Wanting to get in 2 DSO’s on the same night, has meant that both of them didn’t have enough imaging time allocated to them, which is particularly the case for this Cone/Christmas three. Although just about enough Ha, it’s missing integration time in the colours, especially green/blue (as red is combined with Ha anyway)
A good start, for a Christmas tree (upside-down) covered with a snow-flake … and a cone
How it was done
Scope: TS140 APO (FL 910mm)
Mount: CEM70G
Camera: ASI2600MM Pro
Photons: 20220109 HaRGB 7x 4x 3x 5x
Darks/Flats/Bias
Processing: PixInsight (Mac)
Astrobin:
https://astrob.in/2397ig/0/What have I learned from this
My New Year’s resolution was to go for more integration time on the objects that I capture, but I still can’t help in trying to get just that extra object in as well on the same night, especially if it’s only the single night of clear skies in a long period of time.
Still … a nice image to close off the festive season.
Clear Skies everybody! 🤩✨🔭
Follow me @astrowaut
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