The Rosette Nebula (NGC2244) is an emission nebula relatively close to us at only 5000 light years away. It is star nursery with numerous young stars visible in the center of the Nebula.
The above image was taken on March 11, 2026 using a RedCat51 with an L-Enhance filter. Stacked twenty six (26) 180 second exposure images taken in a Bortle 7 area of Florida. Used a 120mm guide scope, and PH2 software for guiding. Mount was a ZWO AM3. NINA was used for imaging acquisition running on a Mele 3Q PC. Also used a ZWO auto focuser.
Image was processed in Siril, including background extraction, color calibration, and hyperbolic stretch. Also performed a Starnet star removal and recombination in Siril. Final image processing and Nik Dfine noise reduction done in DXO Photolab.
Since I did not take any broadband images, the stars are all white and not their true colors, there are actually some amazing stars in this field of view that are blue and red that would of come out if I had combined in a broadband stack. However, to get good broadband images I need to do that in less light polluted area.
Haven’t imaged this target since March of 2023, so the improvements in quality from my previous attempt are pretty obvious as shown in the image below.
The above image was taken on March 6, 2023 using the OpenAstroTracker with OpenAstro Guider and Auto Polar Alignment. Camera used was a ZWO ASI533MC Pro and an Lenhance Filter. Scope was a f/2.0 135mm Focal Length camera lens. Image acquisition done using Ekos and Kstars running on a Rapsberry Pi. Guiding done using PHD2.
Stacked a total of 31 180 sec images in Siril. Also performed gradient correction, color calibration, and stretching in Siril. Final touch ups performed in Gimp.