Rosette Nebula (Emission Line Image): Close to the Orion constellation there is in Monoceros this spectacular emission nebula like a blooming flower. NGC 2244 is actually the open star cluster in the center exciting the hydrogen clouds of this star cradle from which they were born. Dust bands and clouds in between make this sight so beautiful, especially the bizarre structures in the lower part of the image. Some of them are so called Bok Globules, which are believed to house stars in the beginning of their life cycle.

This image was put together by adding three different exposures, taken with narrow band filters, representing emission lines of three atoms: sulfur, hydrogen and oxygen. Red represents the content of sulfur, green hydrogen and blue oxygen in the surrounding gas.