NGC 2244  - THE ROSETTE NEBULA....
The Rosette Nebula is a cloud of dust containing enough gas and dust to make about 10,000 stars like our Sun.  In the core of the nebula is a cluster of hot, bright young stars.  These are warming up the surrounding gas and dust, making it appear bluer.  The small, bright white regions are cocoons of dust in which huge stars are currently being born.  These 'protostars', each one of which will probably become a star up to ten times more massive than the Sun, are heating up the surrounding gas and dust and making it glow brighter. Just as the centre of the nebula contains bright young stars, in a few tens or hundreds of millions of years these stars will have died, but the protostars will have evolved into fully-fledged stars in their own right.  In this way, the star formation will move outwards through the nebula.

The stars of NGC 2244 formed from the surrounding gas only a few million years ago. A hot wind of particles streams away from the cluster stars and contributes to an already complex menagerie of gas and dust filaments while slowly evacuating the cluster centre. The Rosette Nebula's core measures about 50 light-years across, lies about 5,200 light-years away, and is visible with binoculars towards the constellation of the Unicorn (Monoceros).

This image is a real contrast to my recent widefield ventures in and around NGC2244 with the Redcat 51 and has taken quite a while to gather a decent amount of Sii, Ha and Oiii data. 
Stupidly I was waiting to gather Sii to complete this image then stumbled across the data in a different folder... I had taken Sii but labelled it incorrectly as 'Melotte 15' whilst imaging - as if Astrophotography isn't challenging enough! 

I tried different SHO colour palettes for this image but settled on the more 'traditional' rendering of this target and one which clearly shows the processes in this amazing 'star factory'.
Hope you enjoy the final result and, as always...

Clear Skies!!!
Olly