The Rosette Nebula
1494
x 1504 pixels (328kB)
1200
x 1208 pixels (292kB)
900
x 906 pixels (179kB)
Emission
nebula
Magnitude:
5.5
Image
field of view: 1.5 x 1.5 degrees
Constellation:
Monoceros
Distance
from Earth: ~3000 light years
Object
size: Approximately ~75 x 55 light years
Inset
Description:
The
small drop-shaped feature in the inset is an Evaporating
Gaseous Globule (EGG). EGGs are dense clouds of gas and dust that are
collapsing under their own weight. At their cores, new stars are born if
sufficient mass accumulates and if the heat of compression raises the core
temperature to several million degrees (the temperature required for ignition
of the hydrogen fusion process). Eventually, the stars emerge, clearing away
the obscuring gas and dust in a process termed photoevaporation.
The
EGG in the insert has a width of about 0.5 Light Year (LY), or about 30,000
Astronomical Units (AU). One AU is the distance between the Earth and the Sun
(93 million miles). The width of this tiny "drop" of material is
approximately 500 times bigger than the orbit of Pluto.
At
75 LY across, the Rosette Nebula is about 150 times larger than the EGG, but
this colorful nebula is still tiny compared to the roughly 100,000 LY diameter
of our Milky Way Galaxy.
Imaging
Equipment:
- Telescope:
Takahashi FSQ-106N f/5 4-element fluorite refractor.
- Zeiss
II German Equatorial Mount
- Santa
Barbara Instrument Group ST-8E NABG CCD camera (1530 x 1020 pixels, 9 x 9mm, monochromatic, 16 bit, 13.8 x 9.2mm array)
- CWF8
color filter wheel with Hydrogen-Alpha and IR-blocking RGB dichroic filters
Exposure
Information:
- Date:
Saturday, December 26, 2000
- Location:
Joshua Tree National Park, CA
- Elevation:
Approx. 3500'
- All
exposures were shot unbinned
- Total
exposure time: 4 hours (48 exposures of 5 minutes each)
- Exposures
(each of two panes in the mosaic):
|
H-Alpha Luminance |
15 exposures @ 5 minutes each |
|
Red-light: |
3 exposures @ 5 minutes |
|
Green-light: |
3 exposures @ 5 minutes |
|
Blue-light: |
3 exposures @ 5 minutes |
|
Total exposure time: |
120 minutes, each of two panes |