NGC 2264, Christmas Tree Cluster and Cone Nebula, a year later (Rob Foster)

Celestial hemisphere: Northern · Constellation: Monoceros (Mon) · Contains: 15 S Mon · B39 · Christmas Tree Cluster · HD260759 · HD260792 · HD260821 · HD260931 · HD260933 · HD260958 · HD260985 · HD260987 · HD261014 · HD261015 · HD261051 · HD261052 · HD261053 · HD261054 · HD261055 · HD261083 · HD261084 · HD261085 · HD261086 · HD261141 · HD261142 · HD261170 · HD261172 · HD261173 · HD261200 · HD261202 · HD261230 · And 112 more.

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NGC 2264, Christmas Tree Cluster and Cone Nebula, a year later

Revision title: undrizzled version, better color and better background?

Powered byPixInsight

NGC 2264, Christmas Tree Cluster and Cone Nebula, a year later

Revision title: undrizzled version, better color and better background?

Pretty simple math when you compare the imaging attempt last year with 1 hr 27 minutes of data versus the nearly 12 hours this year; no substitute for signal, particularly with a DSLR. Subjectively, NGC 2264 is perhaps one of the most beautiful targets in the winter sky, with the blue-tinged emission nebula combined with the cone-shaped dark nebula at the apex of the triangular shaped object. Located 2300 light years from Earth in the constellation Monoceros, the NGC designation includes both the cone nebula and Christmas Tree Cluster itself, though adjacent objects include the Snowflake Cluster (closer to Earth at 2700 light years) and Fox Fur Nebula. This is the drizzled image after using Normalized Scale Gradient.

Original
Final
B

B

Title: undrizzled version, better color and better background?

Description: For some reason is certain DSO images, particularly nebulas, I am finding more problems with color and with background appearance with the drizzled images as compared to the undrizzled images. Case in point, the original version of this was well-sampled and drizzled with a 0.85 drop shrink and 2x scaling factor with a circular kernel function, and while the linear Master had less noise and the stars looked better, the end result color was not as good and the background had a "moth-eaten" appearance for lack of a better word. In any case, the original submission bothered me the more I looked at it, so this revision is the undrizzled version with otherwise nearly exact same work flow. Is it better? I don't know, but the colors seem better, at least. I think I might start first versions from now as with the undrizzled versions.

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Status	Advanced success
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	7222431
PixInsight job	ZN86TPTMLAC32X3FONC1L5531TD20C5X
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	TASK_LOG

RA (center)	06h40m22s.85
RA (top/left)	06h44m03s.83
RA (top/right)	06h42m42s.83
RA (bottom/right)	06h36m40s.45
RA (bottom/left)	06h38m03s.70

Dec (center)	+10°02′13″.0
Dec (top/left)	+09°01′45″.2
Dec (top/right)	+11°15′57″.6
Dec (bottom/right)	+11°02′31″.8
Dec (bottom/left)	+08°48′22″.5

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NGC 2264, Christmas Tree Cluster and Cone Nebula, a year later

Revision title: undrizzled version, better color and better background?

NGC 2264, Christmas Tree Cluster and Cone Nebula, a year later

Revision title: undrizzled version, better color and better background?

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NGC 2264, Christmas Tree Cluster and Cone Nebula, a year later

Revision title: undrizzled version, better color and better background?

NGC 2264, Christmas Tree Cluster and Cone Nebula, a year later

Revision title: undrizzled version, better color and better background?

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