NGC 2264, The Christmas Tree Cluster and Cone Nebula in Monoceros
Click here for full size tiff image.
Equipment: Televue NP-101 and SXV-H9 camera mounted on a G-11.
Processing: Luminance: 18000 seconds from 15 20 minute subframes summed in CCD Stack after pixel rejection, DDP in Maxim, and enhancement in Photoshop CS2
Chrominance: RGB 10 x 300sec. Ha blended into red channel 33%, and then combined with a 3 pixel median (darken) to eliminate some of the dimmer stars to avoid having them show up as red stars in the final image. I also layered in a conventional RGB image to get the blue reflection nebula to show up well.
I also used Noel Carboni's Astronomy Tools. to shrink the chrominance image stars to minimize halos in the final combined image.
I love this image because it has so many interesting features.The cone is clearly formed from the solar wind of the bright hot blue double star just to the left of its tip. The Fox Fur Nebula at lower left is such a beautiful piece of convoluted nebulosity. Dynamically it strikes me as the most interesting object in the field.
I hate this image because I have been working on versions of it for the last 3 months, learning the importance of lots of photons for Ha imaging. Earlier images are here and here. I've struggled with equipment and software problems, had an objective lens crack, and almost ended my marriage over how much time I've put into it. If I had a dollar for each hour that went into it, I'd be a very wealthy man. What a crazy hobby!
