Friday, May 21, 2010

Astrophoto Friday: The Rosette Nebula

This week for Astrophoto Friday we have the Rosette Nebula.

The Rosette Nebula is located about 5,200 light years away in the direction of the constellation of Monoceros, the Unicorn. It is a large star-forming region of hydrogen gas with a young star cluster (NGC 2244) at its center.

This photograph was made using Palomar's 48-inch Schmidt telescope (now called the Samuel Oschin Telescope). It was taken (possibly in 1965) by William C. Miller who was experimenting with the color astronomical photography. Be sure to check out this 1959 article from LIFE Magazine - The Hues of Heaven - In new Mount Palomar photographs man sees the stars in true color for the first time.

Also, there are some great photos of William C. Miller on the Google LIFE archive. You can check them out here. From that archive here is a photo of him in front of the dome of the Hale Telescope.

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