Hubble's Variable Nebula (NGC2261) in Monoceros

(RA 6h 39.2m , Dec. +8°44', 3.5 x 1.5 arcmin.)

This is the most famous "shadow-show" which can be observed in amateur telescopes. Dense "clumps" of dust circle variable protostar R Monocerotis (at the tip of nebula) and cast dark shadows on the walls of a cavity etched by the protostar's light in a dark molecular cloud (inside which this protostar formed). From our perspective, dark markings of the nebula change their position with the speed of light (which at nebula's distance corresponds to about 1 arcsec. in 4 days). Hubble's Variable Nebula can be found with a telescope about 2° NE of 13 Monocerotis (see finder chart below) - at low power it resembles a tiny comet.

The above image was taken on December 14 & 19, 1998 from Sooke, BC. Cookbook 245 LDC CCD camera was used on Celestron Ultima 8 f6.3 telescope autoguided with Cookbook 211 LDC camera on a piggybacked 500mm f8 telephoto lens. It is composed of white exposures (11 x 240 sec.) as well as cyan, magenta and yellow-filtered integrations (4 x 240 sec. each) combined with AIP4WIN. Color image was then adjusted in Lab color space using Corel PhotoPaint 8.

North is to the right.

The image below was taken with the same equipment on February 17, 2002 from Harrowsmith, Ontario. In this case ten white integrations (240 sec. each) were combined using AIP4WIN.

Here is the comparison !

Map created in Guide 7.0 - 10° x 10°. North is up.

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© Jan Wisniewski