My latest wide field process of the Rosette Nebula otherwise known as Caldwell 49 using data from Grand Mesa Observatory’s system 1a the William Optics Redcat which will soon be available on our subscriptions, using a QHY16200A Monochrome CCD camera with Optolong Narrowband Filters. In this Hubble Palette version the H-Alpha is mapped to green, SII is mapped to red and OIII is mapped to the blue channel. While the colors in this image are not the true colors, the narrowband filters used in the making of this Hubble Palette image reveal much more of the hidden gasses not visible in a broadband image.

Captured over 4 nights in November 2019 for a total acquisition time of 17.8 hours.

Technical Details

Captured and processed by: Terry Hancock

Location: GrandMesaObservatory.com Purdy Mesa, Colorado

November 1, 2, 3, 4th 2019

HA 430 min 43 x 600 sec

OIII 340 min 34 x 600 sec

SII 300 min 30 x 600 sec

Narrowband Filters by Optolong

Camera: QHY16200A

Gain 0, Offset 130 Calibrated with Dark and Bias Frames no Flat.

Optics: William Optics Redcat 51 APO @ F4.9

EQ Mount: Paramount ME

Image Acquisition software Maxim DL6

Pre Processing in Pixinsight

Post Processed in Photoshop CC

Starnet (star removal)

The Rosette Nebula (also known as Caldwell 49)This active star forming nebula lies in the Monoceros Constellation (the Unicorn) only 5,200 light-years distant. The dense cloud of hydrogen has been condensing to form new stars and is thought to be very similar to the environment that gave birth to our own Solar System. As the new stars ignite they blow off their shrouds and irradiate thier surroundings and cause the hydrogen to glow from the ionizing radiation. Like dust being blown by the wind, these newborns push the hydrogen and dust away where it collapses under gravity to accelerate the formation of yet more stars, excavating the inner region of the nebula over time.

The dark tendrils seen in the image are hiding the birthing cocoons of new stars which will eventually shed their egg-like shells, called globules, once they begin to fuse hydrogen into helium. As the brthing continues, the pressure from stellar winds will continue to increase until the available hydrogen has been collapsed into stars (where it has become dense enough) or simply blown away into the intersellar medium.