NGC2264 - Cone Nebula and

                             Christmas Tree Nebula

NGC2264 - Cone Nebula and Christmas Tree Nebula

This image covers a large part of the sky east of Betelgeuse.  North is up. At the bottom of the image the Cone Nebula can be seen.  I took this image from my back yard in Ausitn Texas and had difficulty in normalizing the image due to light gradients.  I did not have a chance to do  the color components of the image. If you invert the image you can see the christmas tree. The bright 5th magnitude star towards the middle of the frame forms the base of the christmas tree cluster (shown to the right inverted, with south at the top), with the apex of the tree formed by the bright star immediately to the north of the Cone Nebula.

A dozen or so stars form the nearly perfect outline of the tree. The Cone Nebula and the Christmas Tree Cluster were discovered by William Herschel in 1783 from his observatory in Bath, England.

Date:  03-18-2004

Telescope: Takahashi FSQ106 (500mm)        Camera:ST8XE   AntiBlooming             

Exposure Time: 120 min 1x1 bin

Processing: Flats, Darks, etc; Maxim, Abobe combined