The Cone Nebula and Christmas Tree Cluster are located about 2,700 light-years away from Earth in the constellation of Monoceros. The Cone is at the top of the tree and the star cluster makes the base of the tree. The diffuse Cone Nebula, so named because of its apparent shape, lies in the southern part of NGC 2264, the northern part being the magnitude-3.9 Christmas Tree Cluster. The cone's shape comes from a dark absorption nebula consisting of cold molecular hydrogen and dust in front the emission nebula containing hydrogen ionized by S Monocerotis, the brightest star of NGC 2264. The faint nebula is approximately seven light-years long (source: wikipedia).
What I found interesting was the dark dust clouds which appear throughout the area, especially in the lower left of the image. I managed to get a little over an hour of Ha-exposures but it was enough to add some detail to the RGB image. I chose to keep this as a wide field shot as I like the look and also I my equipment would not resolve this to my liking.
Ha-Image
RGB-Image
HaRGB-Image
Location: Home Monroe, CT
Date: 2-18-18(Ha), 2-12-18 (RGB), 2-16-18 (RGB)
Camera: Canon EOS Rebel T3i(a), Backyard EOS
Telescope: Orion ED80 80mm f/7.5 Apochromatic Refractor Telescope
Barlow: None
Focal Length: 600mm
f/7.5
Focal Reducer: Orion 0.8x Focal Reducer for Refractor Telescopes
Mount: Orion Sirius EQ
Filter: Astrodon UV/IR, Astronomik Ha Clip-filter, Astronomik UHC Clip-filter
Autoguiding: QHY-5L-II-M attached to an Agena 50mm Guide Scope with Helical Focuser
Exposure: 23 x 180s (Ha), 74 x 120 (RGB), 26 x 180 (RGB)
ISO: 1600
Temp: -8 C, -4 C
Post Processing: Deep Sky Stacker, Photoshop, Astronomy Tools, Lightroom, GE.
https://kurtzeppetello.smugmug.com/
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