Cone Area in H-Alpha (Feb. 2016)

These images are of the Cone Nebula area.  Of course, you can also see the Fox Fur Nebula near NGC2264 (also called the Christmas Tree Cluster), B39 (the darkest nebula near the bottom), and NGC2259 (the star cluster on the lower right).  It's a busy area in the Winter Milky Way.  The bright star to the left that seems to be in the middle of everything is S Monocerotis, a type O7V star 4x wider than our sun and hundreds of times brighter.  See info about S Mon here.

The total time for this image is 9 hours of h-alpha with DSW's FSQ.

The Cone Nebula & NGC 2264 (11-30-2010)

This beautiful area of the sky has no bright stars. Without optical aid, it looks empty from the burbs were I live. But with the light pollution extracted, and with a sensitive camera and a large lens to gather and focus the light, great things can be seen.

On the left of this image is the Cone Nebula, a dark cloud that is slowly disintegrating in the radiation generated by the bright stars to the right of it. The cluster of stars, known as NGC 2264, and the cloud of hydrogen gas shown here, can be found about 2,600 light years away. These objects, like the California Nebula, lie in the same arm of the galaxy that we inhabit.

This image is 18x8' with the Atik 16 through the Orion 120mm f/5 achromat and WO 0.8x II ff/fr (so the image was taken at f/4) and an Astronomk 12nm Ha filter.

This image was published in the April 2011 issue of Ciel Extrême, page 15.  Thanks to the editor, Marc Cesarini.  It's a great privilege.