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.
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….