The Cone Nebula is a famous nebula in the Orion Arm surrounding the NGC 2264 star cluster known as the Christmas Tree cluster (viewed on its side).
It's located about 2,500 light years away toward the constellation of the Unicorn (Monoceros).
The 'cone' itself is a triangular dark nebula to the centre-left. The bright star at the centre is 15 Monocerotis (or 'S Monocerotis') and is at least 8,000 times as luminous as our sun.
It was discovered by William Herschel in 1785.
Equipment:
- Vixen AX103S 103mm f/8.0 ED Apochromatic Refractor telescope.
- Avalon Linear Fast Reverse Mount.
- QSI 683 CCD camera, Kodak KAF-8300 8.3 mega-pixel sensor cooled to -25 °C.
- Astronomik L-RGB, Astrodon 5nm Ha and Astrodon 3nm Oiii filters.
Image exposure (5+ hours in total):
- 16 x 20min Ha.
