Title: The Rose
Description:
A few months ago, I hand-selected a set of data from prior imaging sessions to produce a special version of the Rosette nebula. I used a custom palette and a technique called "dithering" to produce a high-resolution version. In fact, it's my largest piece (3 feet by 2 feet on metal and looks fine in both portrait and landscape orientations) and is one of my favorite pieces overall. It is the only piece in my current collection that I did not release the image for (i.e. publish to social media, post to AstroBin, etc.). but created it solely to print.
The print image turned out so well that I decided to combine data from other sessions and process a version to release. This is it - to date, my best effort on Caldwell 49. The Rosette Nebula is a large emission nebula. The radiation from nearby stars excites the atoms, causing them to release radiation of their own. The most detail is visible in the hydrogen alpha spectrum. The star cluster NGC2244 near its center is a group of stars believed to have been formed from the material in the nebula itself!
I chose an orientation that most closely resembles how it was framed in the sky. If you tilt your head so your chin is pointed at 7:30 and the top of your head to 1:30, you can see why this nebula is sometimes referred to as the Skull Nebula.
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