Inside this rose like nebula lies a bright young cluster of stars designated NGC 2244. These stars formed about four million years ago from the nebular material that now resides mostly behind them. Their stellar winds and radiation have cleared out the material from around them and are now pushing back the wall of material behind them. Ultraviolet light from them, the blue glow surrounding them here, causes their nebular surroundings to fluoresce and glow. The Rosette Nebula is located in the heart of the Milky Way, just to the left of Betelgeuse, the left shoulder star  of Orion. The rosette spans about 100 light-years across and lies about 5000 light-years away. It appears in the sky to be almost half again as big as the moon, and can be seen with a small telescope of 3" diameter.

3"" F6 AstroTech refractor, Canon 300D at Prime focus
 500 sec, ISO 800
 8 photos averaged together, then brightness and contrast enhanced, cropped to fit screen