Imaging the Rosette Nebula - Part 1

NGC 2238, commonly known as the Rosette Nebula, is a beautiful circular emission nebula just east of the star Betelgeuse (left shoulder of Orion the hunter), in the constellation Monoceros.  It surrounds a cluster of bright stars known as the Rosette Cluster (NGC 2244).  Covering an area of the sky about 5 times that of the full moon the Rosette nebula is one of the finest objects of its kind.

This image, taken on the night of February 29th, is a stack of only ten 3 minute exposures.  I had spent most of the evening imaging the Christmas Tree Cluster when I decided to target the Rosette for as many subs as I could get before it sank below the tree line.  The result is a fairly nice photo of the nebula, albeit a little bit noisy due to the small number of subs.  As soon as the sky clears up in the next week or so I'll image another 20 or so subs and process them together with the 10 I have here.  The result of that collection should render a really clean image.