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This
seems to be a wintertime favorite for most
observers and long exposures reveal exactly why.
The Rosette, NGC 2244, is a spectacular
emission nebula strong in hydrogen gases which
lends itself well to filtered exposures that bring
out the fainter features. The nebulosity
engulfs a few star clusters, NGC 2237, NGC
2238 and NGC 2239. This region is a rich
area of dust, stars, and nebulosity due to its
position in the winter Milky Way. The
cluster is easily viewed with any scope in dark
skies. The nebulosity is a bit more
difficult to see, however, due to the human eye's
inability to see such concentrations of
hydrogen-alpha light. Thus, you might need a
bit more aperture than you think if you expect to
see the Rosette shape itself. If you
try it, think big...it's actually a much larger
object than you'd think, being over a degree wide,
or twice the width of our own moon at full phase.
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