Always a favorite of astrophotographers this deep image of the Rosette was done using narrow band filters for hydrogen, oxygen and sulfur. At the center of the Rosette lies the open star cluster NGC2244. These super hot young stars are 400,000 times brighter than our Sun and 50 times more massive. The formation of these stars with their intense radiation and stellar wind have swept away the surrounding molecular cloud and left the distinctive Rosette core.
With a diameter of 130 light-years the Rosette is 5000 light-years distant and is located in the constellation Monoceros.