Monoceros Region - Wide Field

The Monoceros constellation lies in the northern sky, on the celestial equator right after Orion. Its name means “the unicorn” in Latin which represents the mythical single-horned, horse-like creature. It also happens to contain several interesting deep sky objects that I have imaged recently: the open cluster Messier 50 (NGC 2323), the Rosette Nebula, the Christmas Tree Cluster, the Cone Nebula, and Hubble’s Variable Nebula, among others (source: constellation-guide).

I wanted to do a wide field image of something less commonly imaged before galaxy season is in full bloom so I decided to do this since I have been focused on this area recently. I would like to do more wide field images and my plan is to get a dedicated a monochrome astrophotography camera while collecting wide field images with the Canon T3i. The image was heavily graded especially in the south portion. I had to use Gradient Exterminator a record four times and run it through Lightroom's vignetting function in order to make it tolerable. My image of the Cassiopeia region was much easier to process as it was almost directly overhead. Oh well, that's the night life under skies of southern Connecticut.

The image shows the front end of the unicorn where the base of the head is the Christmas Tree cluster and Cone Nebula, the Rosette Nebula is the nose, Hagrid's Dragon is where the legs meet the body, and the unicorn seems to jumping over the Seagull Nebula.

Monoceros Region
Location: Home Monroe, CT
Date: 3-17-18
Camera: Canon EOS Rebel T3i(a), Backyard EOS
Lens: Canon 50mm f/1.8 (Nifty Fifty)
Barlow: None
Focal Length: 50mm
f/2.8
Focal Reducer: None
Mount: Orion Sirius EQ
Filter: Astrodon UV/IR, Baader Neodymium Skyglow 2"
Autoguiding: QHY-5L-II-M attached to an Agena 50mm Guide Scope with Helical Focuser
Exposure: 45 x 90s
ISO: 1600
Temp: -3 C
Post Processing: Deep Sky Stacker, Photoshop, Gradient Exterminator, Astronomy Tools, Lightroom.
https://kurtzeppetello.smugmug.com/