Canon 350D Hap Griffin Baader Mod
10x600sec at iso 1600
30 Darks/Flats/Bias
Orion ED80 with WO 0.8 reducer/flattener
Baader 7nm H alpha filter

Taken during the full moon and with thin wispy clouds that aborted the session after only 10 frames. Still worth keeping, even if the detail is less than it would have been with no cirrus layer. Again, testament to the effectiveness of narrowband imaging in it's ability to produce an image when normally it would be better to stay inside.

NGC2264 is an open cluster of stars embedded in a diffuse nebula. It is located in the constellation of Monoceros, the Unicorn. The image also contains two famous nebula. At the left center of the image is the Cone Nebula, and to the right is the Fox Fur Nebula, but basically the entire frame is full of glowing gas and obscuring dust. The bright star just above the center of the image is known as S Mon.

This region of the Orion arm is rich in gas, dust and newborn stars. The actual Cone Nebula is six light years long. This nebula and cluster are about 2600 light years distant.

Also in this busy frame are the small bright nebula NGC 2261 (Hubble's Variable Nebula) in the lower left looking like a wayward comet, and dark nebula 1610 in the lower right. Small open cluster NGC 2259 is in the very lower right corner as well.

March 22, 2008