Long Stem Rosette

The Rosette Nebula (aka NGC 2237) is not the only cosmic cloud of gas
and dust to evoke the imagery of flowers. But it is the one most often
suggested as a suitable astronomy image for Valentine's Day. Of the many
excellent Rosette Nebula pictures submitted to APOD editors, this view
seemed most appropriate, with a long stem of glowing hydrogen gas in the
region included in the composition. At the edge of a large molecular cloud
in Monoceros, some 5,000 light years away, the petals of this rose are
actually a stellar nursery whose lovely, symmetric shape is sculpted by
the winds and radiation from its central cluster of hot young stars.
The stars in the energetic cluster, cataloged as NGC 2244, are only a
few million years old, while the central cavity in the Rosette Nebula
is about 50 light-years in diameter. Happy Valentine's Day!