Rosette Nebula, NGC 2244 - Sketch

Location and conditions: Negev desert (Nahal Barak), Israel, ~6.6 NELM.
Date: 25-26/07/2011 , 02:00
Instrument: Orion SVP 8" F/5 Newtonian, Hyperion 31mm, UHC, 32X, 2.25° TFOV.
Drawing details: Graphite pencil sketch on a white paper, made while observing with a telescope under a red light. Processed in Photoshop. Observation by Michael Vlasov.

Nebula in the middle: "Rosette Nebula" (Caldwell 49) - HII star forming region.
Involves: NGC2237, NGC 2239, NGC 2238, NGC 2246, LBN 949.
size: 1.4°.  magnitude: 9.  constellation: Monoceros. distance: 5.2 Kly.  

Star cluster in the middle: open cluster NGC 2244. magnitude: 4.8

Star cluster at top left: open cluster NGC 2252. magnitude: 7.7

Notes:

"Rosette Nebula" is a large HII nebula located in Monoceros, around an open cluster NGC 2244. This is a classic star forming region, where stars from the open cluster were formed from the nebula's material.

The cluster in the middle (NGC 2244) is very bright, and easily noticed with a naked eye under dark skies. However the nebula around it is a tougher target. It's large, faint, and best viewed with moderate aperture and wide angle eyepieces (2.25 degrees field of view in this case). UHC filter helps a lot. The nebula has roundish structure, with diffuse and irregular edges. Under dark skies it reveals a complex structure, with a large "black hole" in middle of it, where the cluster resides. Most of it's stars are blue or white, except the brightest yellow star on it's edge (12 Monoceri).

At the north-east (top-right in this drawing) there is a faint, elongated open star cluster NGC 2252.

Original drawing:

Published in jan 2014 issue of Astronomy magazine.