NGC 2244 - The Rosette Nebula (Hubble Colors)

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“When Roses Aren’t Red” — a Hubble-palette spectral band mosaic of the Rosette Nebula, featured as NASA’s APOD. The same data set is also reprocessed in CFHT colors.

Location: Ballauer Observatory near Azle, Texas

Date: November 2005 to January 2006

Equipment: 12.5" RCOS RC on a Software Bisque Paramount ME

Camera: SBIG STL-6303e astro CCD camera

Filters: Custom Scientific 4.5nm Ha, OIII, and SII spectral line filters

Exposure Info: Mapped SII/Ha/OIII mosaic, 90:210:60 min (left) and 90:150:90 min (right)

Processing Information: Calibration, Registration, and DDP in CCDStack. Color mapping, cropping, color balance, levels/curves, sharpening, and noise removal (Astronomy Tools/Pro Digital Software) in Photoshop CS.

About this Image

No, this isn't a Hubble shot. But this image was acquired and processed just like the gorgeous Hubble telescope images that we've come to love, using specialized narrowband emission line filters mapped to the traditional red, green, and blue channels. The greenish portions represent hydrogen-alpha ionized gases, the bluish color represents doubly ionized oxygen gases, and the reddish areas represent singly ionized sulfur gases. While the stars glow heavily in the sulfur wavelength, there is only light concentration of it in the nebula, mostly throughout the brighter portions.

Such images, while obviously beautiful, have a real scientific purpose. Because the colors are mapped specifically to certain gases, it's easy to understand the concentrations of ionizations and how (where) they interact with each other.

This image was named NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day for March 24, 2006, titled "When Roses Aren't Red." See it on APOD.

🤖 AI-drafted · unverified

What it is: NGC 2244, the Rosette Nebula, is a large emission nebula surrounding a young open star cluster at its center, shown here in the narrowband "Hubble palette" mapping SII/Ha/OIII to RGB.
Constellation: Monoceros
Distance: ~5,200 light-years
Apparent magnitude: ~9.0 (cluster); nebula surface brightness is much fainter
Angular size: ~80 × 60 arcminutes
Coordinates: RA 06h 32m, Dec +04° 52′

This summary was generated by an AI assistant from general astronomical references, not from Jay's own notes on this specific image. Treat every detail above as a starting point for research, not settled fact.