The horn of the Unicorn (Hα/[S II] bi-color) (Sergio Díaz)

Celestial hemisphere: Northern · Constellation: Monoceros (Mon) · Contains: Christmas Tree Cluster · NGC 2259 · NGC 2264 · The star 15 Mon

The horn of the Unicorn (Hα/[S II] bi-color), Sergio Díaz

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The horn of the Unicorn (Hα/[S II] bi-color)

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The horn of the Unicorn (Hα/[S II] bi-color)

Monoceros, the Unicorn constellation, does have a celestial horn, the Cone Nebula, a dark indentation of molecular hydrogen and dust outlined by an emission nebula that is being lightened up by ultraviolet radiation from S Mon, the bright star down and right off center.

The Cone Nebula and the open cluster next to it, the Christmas Tree cluster, have the collective designation of NGC 2264. The HII region is Sh2-273, and includes the intriate textures of the Fox Fur, just over S Mon in this framing. The Herbig-Haro 124 object can be seen just at the concavity of the bow shape to the left of S Mon. Slightly on the left over the center, the V-shaped dark nebula is Barnard 39, somewhat connected by its upper arm with a larger dark region, where the bright LBN902 seems to pop up from the deep.

This image, taken from the suburbs of Sevilla city, was originally planned to also include the [O III] data, but the weather got ugly near the end of February and stayed like that until mid-April, a bit too late to pick up where I left. Anyway, rain is always welcome in southern Spain. This is my take with a somewhat unusual, had-no-other-choice Hα/[S II] bi-color combination, hope you enjoy it.

Hα : 34x 600s
[S II]: 43x 600s

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The horn of the Unicorn (Hα/[S II] bi-color)

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The horn of the Unicorn (Hα/[S II] bi-color)

The horn of the Unicorn (Hα/[S II] bi-color)

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