Located about 5,000 light years from Earth, this composite image shows the Rosette star formation region.  The X-rays from the Chandra X ray Observatory reveal hundreds of young stars in the central cluster and fainter clusters on either side. Optical data from the Digitized Sky Survey and the Kitt Peak National Observatory (purple, orange, green and blue) show large areas of gas and dust, including giant pillars that remain behind after intense radiation from massive stars has eroded the more diffuse gas.

The Rosetta Nebula (also known as Caldwell 49) is a large, circular H 11 region located near one end of a giant molecular cloud in the Monoceros region of the Milky Way Galaxy.The open cluster NGC 2244 (Caldwell 50) is closely associated with the nebulosity, the stars of the cluster having been formed from the nebula`s matter.

The cluster and nebula lie at a distance of some 5,200 light years from Earth (although estimates of the distance vary considerably, down to 4,900 light-years ) and measure roughly 130 light years in diameter. The radiation from the young stars excite the atoms in the nebula, causing them to emit radiation themselves producing the emission nebula we see. The mass of the nebula is estimated to be around 10,000 solar masses.

This image of the heart of the cluster was taken in late December 2011 with a Canon 40D DSLR and 8" Richey Chretien Astrograph with a 0.8 focal reducer / flatner at F/6.4  and comprises of  12 seperate images x 7 minutes @ ISO 1600. Star difraction spikes are software created.