The Rosette Nebula is seen from here in the constellation Monoceros (the Unicorn). It is one of the last bright emission nebulae to be visible in our late winter sky as the Earth's trip around the sun points our night sky away from our own galaxy and towards the "galactic window", where we can peer into the distant past of the universe. But NGC 2237 and the associated star cluster cataloged as NGC 2244 are in our own Milky Way galaxy, at a distance of a mere 5,000 light years from Earth. I have photographed part of the Rosette Nebula before, but this time I am able to image the entire nebula with the William Optics FluoroStar 91 telescope at a focal length of 432 millimeters.

The photos comprising this image were acquired on the night of 4-Mar-2023 from my backyard. The waxing gibbous Moon was 94% illuminated on this night. Details are as follows:


Image acquisition date: 4-Mar-2023
Seeing: average
Transparency: below average

Imaging telescope: William Optics FluoroStar 91
Focal length: 432 mm
Focal ratio: f/4.7
Imaging cameras: ZWO ASI071MC Pro
Imaging camera gain (e/adu): 0.5
Sensor temperature: 5° C
Anti-dew heater: On

Guiding telescope: 60mm f/4 refractor
Guiding camera: ZWO ASI224MC
Guiding software: PHD2 Guiding

Mount: Atlas EQ-G
Mount control software: EQMOD

Capture software: N.I.N.A version 2.1.0.9001
Sub-exposures: 39 x 90 seconds
Total integration time: 58.5 minutes
Flat frames: 30
Dark flat frames: 30
Master dark from earlier session

Image processing software: PixInsight, version 1.8.9-1