The Rosette Nebula is a large, circular H II region located near one end of a giant molecular cloud in the Monoceros region of the Milky Way Galaxy.

The nebula lies at a distance of some 5,200 light-years from Earth and measures roughly 130 light years in diameter. The radiation from the young stars excite the atoms in the nebula, causing them to emit radiation themselves producing the emission nebula we see. The mass of the nebula is estimated to be around 10,000 solar masses.

It is believed that stellar winds from a group of O and B stars are exerting pressure on interstellar clouds to cause compression, followed by star formation in the nebula. This star formation is currently still ongoing.

A survey of the nebula with the Chandra X-ray Observatory in 2001 revealed the presence of very hot, young stars at the core of the Rosette Nebula. These stars have heated the surrounding gas to a temperature in the order of 6 million kelvins causing them to emit copious amounts of X-rays. Source Wikipedia.

The image was captured with the Meade 12"LX200, using the Atik 383L+ mono at F6.11. To capture the entire nebula required a much smaller scope. But I wanted to try the narrow band and did not want to tear down my setup. I used Astronomik's 12nm Halpha, OIII and SII narrow band filters only. All subs were taken at 1x1 bin, -10C, and 10 minutes each.

Halpha: 22 subs (3.67 hr) on Jan 31st, Feb 5th, Feb 6th and Feb 7th.

OIII: 32 subs (5.33 hr) on Feb 10th and Feb 13th.

SII: 9 subs (1.50 hr) on Feb 14th.

Processing was done with PixInsight.

Red = Halpha Green = OIII Blue = SII

This is a slight crop, and North is up.

This was my first effort with RGB and Narrow band. Acquiring the narrow band subs and getting them properly calibrated seems to have drug on for a long time. There is something peculiar about the Atik 383 camera and how it does Flats. This process requires close attention.

Nevertheless, I'm pleased with the outcome.