NGC 2264, the Cone Nebula and the Christmas Tree Cluster.

NGC 2264, also known as the Cone Nebula and the Christmas Tree Cluster. It is located in the constellation Monoceros.

It is an emission nebula with a star cluster at it's center. The stars in the cluster excite the hydrogen gas around it giving the red glow.

Just below and a little to the left of the central star cluster is a cone shaped gas projection, pointing up, that gives the Cone Nebula it's distinctive name. (NASA; TheSky, Software Bisque)

Image processed by Andrew Macica, original data from Telescope Live.

Imaging Details:

Observatory: IC Astronomy Observatory, Oria, Almería, Spain

Telescope: Takahashi FSQ-106EDX4

Aperture: 106 mm, w/ 0.73x focal reducer, f/3.6

Focal Length: 382 mm

Camera: QHY 600M Pro CMOS

Filters: LRGB, Ha

Total Exposure: 5 hours 15 minutes

Image Processing:

PixInsight 1.8.9-3 Ripley (x64);

BlurXTerminator, NoiseXTerminator, StarXTerminator (RC Astro);

Adobe Photoshop 25.12.4;

Adobe Lightroom Classic 15.1.1

Instruction on PixInsight from Adam Block Studios.