The Rosette & Cone Nebulae in Monoceros: Wide-field view | ESO

The Rosette & Cone Nebulae in Monoceros: Wide-field view | ESO

Wide field image taken with a 200mm lens from the Paranal Observatory in Chile, showing the region of the sky with the NGC 2247 star forming complex and containing the Herbig Ae/Be object MWC 147. Visible in this image are the rich, colorful Cone Nebula region (at the centre-left of the image) and the Rosette Nebula (at the top right). They are both located in the Monoceros constellation, very close to the better known Orion constellation. The star MWC 147 is close to a dark nebula, in the top left part of the image, and belongs to an association of massive stars, the Monoceros OB1 association.

Rosette is an emission nebula, composed of clouds of gas that are made to glow by the radiation emanating from stars within. Nebulae are among the most beautiful celestial objects out there. They frequently show up spectacularly in images.

In nebulae such as this, gas and dust are combining to produce a new generation of stars. Initially, these newly-formed stars are shrouded in the dusty clouds that gave them birth, and cannot be seen in visible light. However, after a while they blow away the denser material and their powerful radiation pours out to ionize the surrounding gas, causing it to glow brightly. These elements are all present in this image—the mixture of glowing gas and dark dust has been sculpted into complex patterns on the sky by the stellar radiation, like smoke around a fire.

This image is a color-composite based on exposures through R, V, B, and H-alpha filters, for a total exposure time of more than 16 hours.

Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)/S. Guisard

Release Date: Jan. 29, 2008

#NASA #ESO #Space #Astronomy #Science #Nebulae #Nebula #ConeNebula #DarkNebula #RosetteNebula #NGC2247 #Caldwell49 #EmissionNebula #HerbigAeBeObject #Star #MWC147 #StellarNursery #Monoceros #Constellation #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #ParanalObservatory #Chile #SouthAmerica #Europe #STEM #Education