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NGC 2237 ( Sh2-275, Rosette Nebula) in Monoceros |
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© Velimir Popov & Emil Ivanov 2020 | |||||||||||||||||||
Size: 1800 px | |||||||||||||||||||
NGC 2237 (also known as Sh2-275, Caldwell 49, or The Rosette Nebula ) is a large spherical H II region located near one end of a giant molecular cloud in the Monoceros region of the Milky Way. 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 distance to the cluster and nebula is about 5,000 light-years, and the diameter of the nebula is roughly 130 light years. The radiation from the young stars excites 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. A survey of the nebula with the Chandra X-ray Observatory has revealed the presence of numerous new-born stars inside optical Rosette Nebula and studded within a dense molecular cloud. Altogether, approximately 2500 young stars lie in this star-forming complex, including the massive O-type stars HD 46223 and HD 46150, which are primarily responsible for blowing the ionized bubble. A diffuse X-ray glow is also seen between the stars in the bubble, which has been attributed to a super-hot plasma with temperatures ranging from 1 to 10 million K. This is significantly hotter than the 10,000 K plasmas seen in HII regions, and is likely attributed to the shock-heated winds from the massive O-type stars. |
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Image details: |
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Charts and image details obtained from Astrometry.net | |||||||||||||||||||
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Copyright: Velimir Popov and Emil Ivanov 2020. All Rights Reserved | |||||||||||||||||||
e-mail: info@irida-observatory.org | |||||||||||||||||||