About image
This wide field in Monoceros is centered on NGC 2264, that identifies two astronomical objects as a single object: the Christmas Tree Cluster and the Cone Nebula.
The trunk of the tree is identified by the brightest star in the field, S Monocerotis and the tree itself has the tip in correspondance of the Cone Nebula.
The tree is "immersed" in red nebulosity but near the trunk there is also a nice blue reflection nebula.
In the upper right side of the image is well visible, with its V shape, the Hubble Variable Nebula.
Other bright and dark nebulae are well visible all around the field.
On the bottom left side of the image some strikes on the sky are visible: they should be an issue related to some kind of reflections inside the optic maybe due to the bright S Monocerotis star.
Technical data
Optic TS Optics 76 EDPH - Aperture 76mm, focal lenght 342mm, f/4.5
Mount Skywatcher EQ6R
Camera ZWO ASI 294MM Pro with external filter wheel 7 positions
Filters Antlia 36mm RGB
Guiding system Artesky Ultraguide 32mm
Exposure details L 79x180" bin2 -25C
R 25x180" bin2 -25C
G 25x180" bin2 -25C
B 24x180" bin2 -25C
Gain 120, offset 30
Total integration 7h39'
Acquisition Voyager, PHD2
Processing Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CS5, BlurXTerminator, NoiseXTerminator, StarXTerminator
SQM-L 21.38
Location Promiod (Aosta Valley, Italy)
Date 26/27 February 2022