Astrophoto: Spectacular View of the Rosette Nebula

By Nancy Atkinson - September 12, 2014 01:25 PM UTC | Stars

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..

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Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com