Kwychang
NGC 2174 The Monkey Head Nebula
Located 6,400 light years away in the constellation of Orion, the Monkey Head is an emission nebula and home to the open star cluster NGC 2175.
The nebula acts as a womb for new stars to be born. Those new stars then radiate such immense energy that blasts in to the surrounding gas and dust that makes up the nebula. This has the effect of not only clearing away the surrounding nebula from the newly born star but, causes the gas and dust in other areas to be pushed together. When enough of this material is pushed together it allows gravity to take hold and pull more and more of it in. When enough of it is pulled together there's a good chance another star will be born.
Boring techie bit:
Skywatcher Quattro 8" Newtonian Reflector steel tube with the f4 aplanatic coma corrector, Skywatcher EQ6 R pro mount, Altair Starwave 50mm guide scope, ZWO asi120mm guide camera mini, ZWO asi533mc pro cooled to -20c gain 100, Optolong L'enhance 2" filter, ZWO asiair plus.
180s exposures.
Best 70% of 30 light frames.
Darks, Flats & Bias.
Stacked with DeepSkyStacker, and processed in Affinity Photo.
NGC 2174 The Monkey Head Nebula
Located 6,400 light years away in the constellation of Orion, the Monkey Head is an emission nebula and home to the open star cluster NGC 2175.
The nebula acts as a womb for new stars to be born. Those new stars then radiate such immense energy that blasts in to the surrounding gas and dust that makes up the nebula. This has the effect of not only clearing away the surrounding nebula from the newly born star but, causes the gas and dust in other areas to be pushed together. When enough of this material is pushed together it allows gravity to take hold and pull more and more of it in. When enough of it is pulled together there's a good chance another star will be born.
Boring techie bit:
Skywatcher Quattro 8" Newtonian Reflector steel tube with the f4 aplanatic coma corrector, Skywatcher EQ6 R pro mount, Altair Starwave 50mm guide scope, ZWO asi120mm guide camera mini, ZWO asi533mc pro cooled to -20c gain 100, Optolong L'enhance 2" filter, ZWO asiair plus.
180s exposures.
Best 70% of 30 light frames.
Darks, Flats & Bias.
Stacked with DeepSkyStacker, and processed in Affinity Photo.