Pugnacious Protostars Pollenate a Perilous Pretty Pistil – The Rosette Nebula

If you say to just about any astronomer, professional or amateur, that you’re looking at NGC 2244, he or she will immediately think of the Rosette Nebula. But to be hyper-technical about it, NGC 2244 only refers to the young open star cluster at the center of the nebula that contains several giant, hot stars. An open star cluster is a group of stars likely born in the same stellar nursery, but not bound gravitationally and destined to find their own paths through the galaxy. It’s also catalogued as Caldwell 50 (C50).

NGC 2244 is a very young star cluster with an age between one and five million years, but it’s very active, providing the radiation that allows us to see NGC 2237, the Rosette Nebula, by ionizing its gasses.

The pair are about 4,500 light years from Earth and the Rosette Nebula is huge—50 light years across. The Rosette Nebula glows with light emitted from ionized sulfur (red), hydrogen (green), and oxygen (blue). These gasses mix to form the expansive palette of colors you see in the image.

The Rosette Nebula is a prime example of a Strömgren sphere. A Strömgren sphere is a bubble of ionized hydrogen surrounding a massive hot star.

The Rosette contains a number of dark, dusty globules that would normally be prime locations for the formation of new stars. But the intense radiation from the nearby star cluster is eating away at them, likely preventing them from doing this.

The Rosette Nebula is also catalogued as Caldwell 49 (C49) and Sharpless 2-275 (Sh2-275).