(Click on image for full size version)
| Description: | The cone nebula at the left is a very large
cloud of Hydrogen and particles associated with a loose open cluster
NGC2226, located at the tip of the cone. Farther to the right is
NGC2264, another open cluster about 2,700 light years distant. The
nebulosity is a combination of red Hydrogen emission and blue reflection
from the cluster. Some dark dust lanes are also visible. The
bright star at the far right is S Monocerotis. |
| Exposure Data: | 1/7/2002 LRGB: 17x3m, 6x3m, 6x3m, 6x3m. RGB
binned 2x2. -25°C, 2.65 arc-sec./pixel. |
| Processing: | Acquired in CCDSoft, reduced, aligned and
combined in Mira, RGB combine in Maxim, L+RGB combine, curves, levels, bloom
repair and other adjustments in Photoshop. |
| Optical System: | TV-140 5.5” f/5 APO refractor, ST-8E NABG/CFW-8A
CCD camera, AP900GTO mount. |
| Comments: | Used Rob Gendler’s LLRGB
layering to enhance the color data. It made a significant improvement on
this originally too noisy data. Although still too noisy, it was amazing to
watch the color data “develop” as Rob’s technique was applied. |