by Rod Pommier
Telescope/Mount: Celestron Compustar C14 with Astrophysics 0.75x focal reducer (f/8.3).
Camera: SBIG STL 11000M with Baader Planetarium H-alpha, R, G, and B filters.
SBIG A0-L Adaptive Optics at 4Hz.
Location: Pommier Observatory, Portland, OR, USA.
Dates:2014-02-01 through 2014-03-22.
Exposures: H-alpha:R:G:B=390:90:80:80=10hours,40 minutes total exposure.
NGC 2264 describes several objects in the constellation Monoceros lying about 2,700 light-years from Earth. One is the Christmas Tree star cluster. Here the tree is lying on its side with the blazing bright blue star S Monocerotis marking its trunk at center left and the tip of the tree pointing at the lower right corner. The entire background is a made up of interesting nebulae. The diffuse red nebula is an emission nebula caused by H-alpha emissions from hydrogen gas stimulated by ultraviolet radiation emitted by S Monocertis and the cluster's other blue stars. There are two special star forming regions in the red nebula. At lower right, off the tip of the Christmas Tree, is the Cone Nebula, named for its apparent shape sculpted by fierce stellar winds emitted from the stars. It is a dark molecular cloud within which other new stars are forming. Numerous other sculpted swirls of nebulosity are nearby. At upper left is the Fox Fur Nebula, Sharpless 273, named for the rich textured appearance sculpted by stellar winds in that region. In contrast, the blue nebula is a reflection nebula caused by scattered blue light reflecting off residual dust in a region where stars have already formed.