Focal Pointe Observatory
Astrophotography by Bob Franke

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NGC 2174 - The Monkey Head Nebula

 

Click the image for a larger view. (1800 x 1350 - 1.21 MB)

Instrument

Takahashi FSQ-106ED @ f/5.0 (530 mm F.L.) Captured at 2.1 arcsec/pixel.  Shown at 3.77 and 9.05 arcsec/pixel.

Mount

Losmandy G11 with Gemini L4 v1.0

Camera

SBIG STF-8300M Self Guiding Package w/ mono ST-i, using AstroDon 5-nm Ha and Baader RGB filters.

Acquisition Data

2/18/2013 & 3/15/2013  Chino Valley, AZ

Exposure

Ha

405.0 min. (27 x 15 min.)   bin 1x1

Software

  • CCDSoft, CCDStack, PixInsight & Photoshop CS6.

  • CCDStack to calibrate the sub exposures.

  • PixInsight processing includes registering, stacking,  gradient removal and non-linear stretching with HistogramTransformation.

  • PhotoShop for the final touch up.

  • Click here for the RGB image

Comment

North is to the top.

NGC 2174, The Monkey Head Nebula, is an emission nebula located in the constellation Orion. The nebula is associated with the open star cluster NGC 2175 and is about 6,400 light-years from Earth.