The rosette nebula that is pictured above and appeared as a miscellaneous item on the constellation quiz this week (located in the constellation Monoceros), seemed to be the perfect topic for this week's APOD post. The rosette nebula is a vast cloud of dust and gas that spans about five times the area of the full Moon. Inside the nebula there are four NGC numbers that have been assigned to several clusters of stars, which are 2237, 2238, 2239, and 2246. One of the most fascinating clusters is NGC 2244, which is considered to be a relatively young group of bright stars that were formed about 4 million years ago and is able to be seen with a pair of binoculars. These bright stars each emit high energy light that ionizes the surrounding hydrogen gas clouds creating the striking reddish hues in the nebula. The hot wind that is also emitted by the stars in NGC 2244 helps disperse the gas clouds' particles which adds even further to the awe-inspiring image as the reddish filaments are formed into sweeping, curvy patterns and a hole is formed at the center, revealing the sky behind these clouds.
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