Rosette Nebula (from Chandra Xray Observatory): The Heart of the Rose
Above image taken from the Chandra X-ray Observatory shows the Rosette star formation region, located about 5000 light years from Earth.
The center of outlined portion which is the open cluster NGC 2244 reveals hundreds of young stars in red and the large areas of gas and dust in purple, orange, green and blue. NGC 2244 is believed to have formed first, followed by expansion of the nebula, which triggered the formation of the two neighboring clusters (NGC 2186 and 2252) , including NGC 2237.
The right side of the image, named NGC 2237, shows about 160 young stars surrounding the dust lanes.
The Rosette Nebula located in the Monceros region of the Milky Way Galaxy has the following NGC designations, including its open cluster NGC 2244
NGC 2237 – Part of the nebulous region (Usually used to denote whole nebula)
NGC 2238 – Part of the nebulous region
NGC 2239 – Part of the nebulous region (Discovered by John Herschel)
NGC 2244 – The open cluster within the nebula (Discovered by John Flamsteed in 1690)
NGC 2246 – Part of the nebulous region
Below image shows the map of Rosette, its nebulous regions and neighboring clusters.
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