Shining mostly in red on the left side of the image, the Cone nebula (NGC 2264) is an extensive emission nebula surrounding the Christmas tree cluster . On the right side, the reflection nebula IC 2169 can be seen together with three smaller nebulae (NGC 2245, NGC 2247 and IC 446). In the bottom center, the star cluster Tr 5 can be seen over the dense star field of the milky way. Several dark nebulae are distributed over the image, obscuring the milky way stars located behind them.

Technical data: FSQ 106N scope, STL11000 camera, Baader L R G B H alpha and OIII filters, ASA DDM85 equatorial mount. Unguided subexposures of 5 minutes (LRGB) or 30 minutes each (H alpha and OIII). 20 hours total exposure through LRGB filters, 9 hours H alpha and 9 hours OIII.

Suburban observatory in Pozuelo de Alarcon, close to MAdrid (Spain), zenital sky brightness of 18.5 magnitudes per square arcsecond.

Image processing: PixInsight, final touches on Photoshop.

Clic over the image to navigate through a full resolution picture