Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Orion (Ori)  ·  Contains:  NGC 2174  ·  NGC 2175
Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
NGC 2174 • The Monkey Head Nebula in SHO, Douglas J Struble
NGC 2174 • The Monkey Head Nebula in SHO
Powered byPixInsight

NGC 2174 • The Monkey Head Nebula in SHO

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
NGC 2174 • The Monkey Head Nebula in SHO, Douglas J Struble
NGC 2174 • The Monkey Head Nebula in SHO
Powered byPixInsight

NGC 2174 • The Monkey Head Nebula in SHO

Equipment

Loading...

Acquisition details

Loading...

Description

Yes I know the monkey head is face down, but I prefer this composition of the nebula itself.

The Monkey Head Nebula is an emission nebula located in the constellation Orion, the Hunter. The nebula is an H II region, a large cloud of ionised gas in which new stars are being formed. The low-density cloud is a site of intense star formation. The Monkey Head Nebula lies about 6,400 light years from Earth. It is associated with the open cluster NGC 2175. It has the designation NGC 2174 in the New General Catalogue.

The Monkey Head Nebula is located in the same region of the sky as the famous Orion Nebula, one of the brightest diffuse nebulae in the night sky. As the name suggests, it also lies in Orion constellation. However, while M42 lies in Orion’s Sword, the Monkey Head can be found above Betelgeuse, near Orion’s head.

NGC 2174 covers an area larger than the full Moon and can be seen in binoculars. However, one needs a larger telescope to make out any of the details. The stellar nursery contains many young stars that are embedded within the surrounding dust and gas. These stars emit intense ultraviolet radiation which ionises the hydrogen gas, making the nebula glow.

The light and winds from the newly formed stars are dispersing the clouds in which the stars were formed. The nebula surrounds several loose clusters of young stars and will evaporate and disappear into the surrounding space within the next few million years.

Comments

Sky plot

Sky plot

Histogram

NGC 2174 • The Monkey Head Nebula in SHO, Douglas J Struble