The Rosette Nebula - C49
The Rosette Nebula (sometimes known as Swift’s Nebula) is just to the East of Orion, but is extremely difficult to see visually. The open cluster of stars in the centre (Caldwell 50) is readily visible and is used to check that the telescope with camera are pointing in the correct place.
This image taken in Feb 2011 is the first image taken since my camera was modified to make the camera more sensitive to the red Hydrogen Alpha light emitted by this and other nebulae.
Exposure details: 24 x 5 minute guided exposures (= 2 hours total) through my FL102S refractor at prime focus with a modded Canon 40D DSLR camera. Dark and flat field frames also taken.
No fliters were used but the frames straight out of the camera were dominated by the orange light pollution. I am intending to use a light pollution filter on future occasions.
No fliters were used but the frames straight out of the camera were dominated by the orange light pollution. I am intending to use a light pollution filter on future occasions.
I was surprised as to how large the nebula was and intend when the sky allows to retake this with a shorter length telescope. The focal length of the FL102S is 900mm. Next time I will use my Celestron 80ED which has a focal length of 600mm.
