NGC 2244 – The Rosette Nebula

The Rosette Nebula is a large nebula in Monoceros consisting of an open star cluster and a large surrounding emission nebula.
Although the nebula is usually referred to as NGC 2244, this is actually the designation for the open cluster.
The open cluster is estimated to be only about 5 million years old.

The nebula itself is cataloged under NGC 2237. The distance to the nebula is about 5.200 light years.