The Cone Nebula
2,700 light years away in the constellation Monoceros is the Cone Nebula, which is the small Christmas Tree shaped region in the image (it is also referred to as the Christmas Tree Cluster.) The cone's shape comes from a dark absorption nebula consisting of cold molecular hydrogen and dust in front of a faint ionized-hydrogen emission nebula.
February 15, 2024
The Cone Nebula is an interesting region that contains quite a bit of finer nebulosity, which my wide frame telescope doesn’t capture well, however, there is clearly lots of nebulosity surrounding the finer details that are certainly worth seeing! This image contains the aptly named Christmas Tree Cluster, which is part of the Cone Nebula, and the Fox Fur Nebula, which is the rippling region of nebulosity nearby. I was able to get about 4 hours to compose this image. I was a little surprised at how orange this image turned out, but I have to think that this is the result of using a one-shot color camera that is ultimately blending all of the data from the different color emission lines of the ionized Hydrogen, Nitrogen, Oxygen, and Sulphur, which you can see in the image below.
Technical Details
Imaging Telescope: William Optics RedCat 51 II
Imaging Camera: ZWO ASI533MC Pro
Mount: Sky-Watcher EQ6-R Pro
Filter: Antlia Tri-band RGB Ultra Filter - 2” Mounted
Accessories: ZWO ASIAIR Plus, ZWO EAF, ZWO Filter Drawer (Gen 2)
Software: Siril, Starnet, Photoshop, NoiseXterminator
Guiding Telescope: William Optics UniGuide 32
Guiding Camera: ZWO ASI174MM
Imaging Dates: Feb. 13, 2024
Frames (gain 101.0) f/4.9 -10c: 80x180” (4h)
Integration Time: 4h
Darks/Flats/Dark Flats: 30/60/60
Bortle Dark-Sky Scale: 5.00