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NGC 2264 |
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| About this picture: |
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Cones, pillars, and majestic flowing shapes abound in stellar nurseries where natal clouds of gas and dust are buffeted by energetic winds from newborn stars. A well-known example, the Cone Nebula within the bright galactic star-forming region is NGC 2264. While the Cone Nebula, about 2,500 light-years away in Monoceros, is around 7 light-years long, the region pictured here surrounding the cone's blunted head is a mere 2.5 light-years across. In our neck of the galaxy that distance is just over half way from the Sun to its nearest stellar neighbor, Alpha Centauri. The massive star NGC 2264 IRS,is the likely source of the wind sculpting the Cone Nebula and lies near the center of the image. The Cone Nebula's reddish veil is produced by glowing hydrogen gas. Scope: 12" LX200 OTA @ f6.3 Mount: MI250 Camera: SBIG ST200XM,CFW10 Astrodon Gen II filters Guiding: SX Loadstar with Maxim Dl. Ha LRGB image, L= 25X10 min. RGB= 25X5 min. Bin 2X. Ha =30X20 min Total exposure time =20hrs 20 min Images acquired with Maximum Dl, combined with CCDStack, final processing with PS CS4 Images were taken at the fully automated Burkes Observatory on 12/21/09-01/23/10 using ACP. |