Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Astrophoto: Spectacular View of the Rosette Nebula

The Rosette Nebula, taken on September 9, 2014. A 5 hour exposure, using an Epsilon 180 ED telescope, with filters of 3nm Astrodon combining Hydrogen-alpha, Oxygen and Sulfur II. Credit and copyright: César Cantú.

Wow! Here’s a gorgeous view of the Rosette Nebula from astrophotographer César Cantú. The Rosette Nebula is a star-forming region about 5,000 light years from Earth, located in the constellation Monoceros. Winds from the young, hot, blue stars cleared the central hole. The central cluster of stars is also known as NGC 2244.

The image compiles about 5 hours of observing time and César used hydrogen-alpha, oxygen and sulfur filters.

Compare this new view to earlier images of the Rosette taken by César in 2011, and see more at his website, Astronomía Y Astrofotografía..

Want to get your astrophoto featured on Universe Today? Join our Flickr group or send us your images by email (this means you’re giving us permission to post them). Please explain what’s in the picture, when you took it, the equipment you used, etc.

Posted on by Fraser Cain

Virtual Star Party – May 4, 2014: It’s Galaxy Season!

Hosts: Fraser Cain and Scott Lewis
Astronomers: Gary Gonella, Andrew Dumbleton, Stuart Foreman, David Dickinson, Shahrin Ahmad and special guest Henna Khan from Bombay, India

Tonight’s Views:
the Moon’s surface
M44 Beehive Cluster
Neutron Star B224 from HST
All-Sky View
Mars with ice caps and Hellas Basin visible
Comet C/2012 K1 PanSTARRS
Stuart demonstrating how to work with software to process images
M51a Whirlpool Galaxy
M53 Globular Cluster
Rosette Nebula – NGC 2237, 2238, 2239 and 2246
Saturn
Horsehead Nebula (Barnard 33 in emission nebula IC 434) and Flame Nebula (NGC 2024) with a satellite trail
NGC 5139 Omega Centauri
M42 Orion Nebula
M63 Sunflower Galaxy
NGC 7635 Bubble Nebula
Large and Small Magellanic Clouds

We hold the Virtual Star Party every Sunday night as a live Google+ Hangout on Air. We begin the show when it gets dark on the West Coast. If you want to get a notification, make sure you circle the Virtual Star Party on Google+. You can watch on our YouTube channel or here on Universe Today.

Posted on by Fraser Cain

Virtual Star Party – February 23, 2014 – Nebulae, Sunspots, and Planet “X”?!?

Hosts: Fraser Cain & Scott Lewis
Astronomers: David Dickinson, Gary Gonella, James McGee, Mike Simmons, Roy Salisbury, Shahrin Ahmad, Tom Nathe

Tonight’s views:
Jupiter with a nice view of the red spot, Venus approaching zenith, Bubble Nebula, the Pleiades, Orion Nebula, Horsehead Nebula, Flame Nebula, Running Man Nebula, the Moon, the Sun, the ISS (photo), the Rosette Nebula, Orion again, M33, Sunspots, Rosette again, California Nebula (multiple views), M81 & M82, Planet “X” (?!?), Andromeda, Flame Nebula again

We hold the Virtual Star Party every Sunday night as a live Google+ Hangout on Air. We begin the show when it gets dark on the West Coast. If you want to get a notification, make sure you circle the Virtual Star Party on Google+. You can watch on our YouTube channel or here on Universe Today.

Posted on by Fraser Cain

Virtual Star Party – February 16, 2014: Fighting Crime while Transiting Jupiter!

Hosts: Fraser Cain & Scott Lewis

Astronomers: David Dickinson, Gary Gonella, James McGee, Tom Nathe, Mike Phillips, Mike Simmons, Roy Salisbury, Shahrin Ahmad

Views tonight: Horsehead Nebula, Flame Nebula, Europa Transit of Jupiter with Great Red Spot, a cluster of sunspots, Rosette Nebula, a near-Earth asteroid, a capture of Barnard’s Loop, Orion Nebula, M81, various telescopes of the astronomers, our moon, another transit of Jupiter by one of the moons, M67, NGC 2169-the “37” Cluster, our moon – full view, California Nebula.

We hold the Virtual Star Party every Sunday night as a live Google+ Hangout on Air. We begin the show when it gets dark on the West Coast. If you want to get a notification, make sure you circle the Virtual Star Party on Google+. You can watch on our YouTube channel or here on Universe Today.

Posted on by Fraser Cain

Virtual Star Party – January 5, 2014: Jupiter in Opposition and 6 Telescopes!

Hosts: Fraser Cain and Scott Lewis

Astronomers:
David Dickinson in Florida
Michael Phillips in North Carolina
Bill McLaughlin in Oregon
Gary Gonella in California
Paul Stewart in New Zealand
Shahrin Ahmad in Malaysia
Stuart Foreman in San Francisco
Thad Szabo in California
Continue reading “Virtual Star Party – January 5, 2014: Jupiter in Opposition and 6 Telescopes!”

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Herschel Spots Previously Unseen Stars in Rosette Nebula

Infrared image of the Rosette molecular cloud by the Herschel space observatory. Credits: ESA/PACS & SPIRE Consortium/HOBYS Key Programme Consortia

Wow, what a gorgeous new image from the Herschel telescope – and what makes this especially stunning is that we’ve never seen these stars before! And these stars in the Rosette Nebula are huge, as each one is up to ten times the mass of our Sun. “High-mass star-forming regions are rare and further away than low-mass ones,” said Frédérique Motte, from the Laboratoire AIM Paris-Saclay, France. “So astronomers have had to wait for a space telescope like Herschel to reveal them.”
Continue reading “Herschel Spots Previously Unseen Stars in Rosette Nebula”