This page shows some close-ups of the Rosette Nebula and the Bok Globules therein. See my main Rosette Nebula page for wider and alternate views.
This large close-up image shows some of the "Bok Globules" in the heart of the Rosette Nebula. The globules are the small dark blobs in the image They are dense clouds of dust and gas. The interesting thing is that there does not appear to be complete agreement as to what exactly they are. The consensus seems to be that they are new stars in the process of forming. The other dark nebula tendrils show the globules interacting with this energetic environment. The Rosette close-up above represents over 11 hours total exposure, blending the image data below with that obtained from my 2013 Davis Mountains trip. My main Rosette Nebula picture page has the exposure details.
I replaced an older version of this picture 2/2010. See image details on my main Rosette Nebula page.
Reference: Located an estimated 1,500 light-years from Earth in the constellation Monoceros, the Rosette Nebula is a spectacular region of ionized hydrogen excavated by the strong stellar winds from hot O- and B-type stars in the center of the young open cluster NGC 2244. It is a region of on-going star formation with an age of about three million years. Some good info about the Rosette is at SEDS here. NGC 2244 and NGC 2237-9,46 Diffuse Nebula NGC 2237-9,46, The Rosette Nebula Open Cluster NGC 2244 (= H VII.2), in Monoceros.
Rosette Nebula in Hydrogen-Alpha, above a 1920x1200 pixel version for you large monitor folks. I have processed this image trying to highlight the Bok Globules plus the subtle gradations in the dimmer areas of the nebula. As of 2/1/2009 it replaces the previous image that had about 1/3rd the exposure. The difference is a subtle reduction in low-level noise and a bit more detail.
This area is rich in hydrogen alpha wavelength emissions. Notice the Bok Globules throughout the image, which was derived from 5.3 total hours exposure during January 2009 from The Woodlands, TX.
Equipment used: Takahashi TOA 130 Telescope (a 5" APO refractor telescope) and flattener, Astronomik 13nm Hydrogen Alpha filter, AP 900GTO mount, QHY8 CCD Camera. Other pictures from the camera are are here. Images processed using my Astronomy Image Processing Workflow, with the additional step of discarding all the Green and Blue colors in Photoshop.
Astronomy Pictures: Dick Locke's Astrophoto Gateway page....
Dick's Pix (Dick Locke's Picture & Image Page)
hits.