NGC 2174 - The Monkey Head Nebula
Date: Feb 24, 2020
Cosgrove’s Cosmos Catalog ➤#0020
NGC 2174 - The Monkey Head Nebula
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About the Target
NGC 2174- Known as the Monkey Head Nebula. This object is located in the constellation Orion and is associated with NGC 2175 - an Open Cluster embedded in the nebula. This is only 6400 light-years away, so it's in the galactic neighborhood, so to speak.
About the Project
I thought I was actually going to get two clear nights in a row. Not to be! Clouds came in, and Cloud moved out. Clouds then moved in to stay. So instead of getting 40 3-minute exposures as planned, I only end up with 12, so I am surprised I got anything to show at all!
So this has minimal exposure but does show the basic shape of the nebula.
Note: I reshot this target in October of 2025 with 5 hours of narrowband data. That imaging project can be seen here:
My new version of this targget!
The Annotated Image
An annotated image of NGC 2174 created by using Pixinsight’s ImageSolver and AnnotateImage Scripts.
The Location in the Sky
IAU/Sky & Telescope Constellation Map of Orion - with NGC 2174 marked by the yellow arrow.
More Information
Wikipedia Entry: NGC 2174
HubbleSite: Smal portion of NGC 2174 - Hubble Image
The Live Sky: NGC 2174
Capture Details
Light frames
12 x 180 seconds, bin 1x1 @ -15C, unity gain
Total of 36 minutes.
Cal Frames
Not recorded
Capture Hardware
Scope: Astrophysics 130mm Starfire F/8.35 APO Scope: William Optics 132mm f/7.0 FLT APO
Guide Scope: Sharpstar 61EDPHII
Camera: ZWO ASI1600mm-pro with ZWO Filter wheel with ZWO LRGB filter set,
and Astronomiks 6nm Narrowband filter set
Guide Camera: ZWO ASI290Mini
Focus Motor: Pegasus Astro Focus Cube 2
Camera Rotator: Pegasus Astro Falcon
Mount: Ioptron CEM60
Polar Alignment: Polemaster camera
Software
Capture Software: PHD2 Guider, Sequence Generator Pro controller
Image Processing: Deepsky Stacker, Pixinsight, Photoshop - assisted by Coffee, extensive processing indecision and second-guessing, editor regret and much swearing….
During August and September I was out shooting every clear night. I had learned a lot of things but I was also noticing several issues that were causing me problems as I did more imaging. I decided to do something to address those issues….