SH2-174 (Sharpless 174) ranks as the most northern Sharpless object at 81 degrees north.
SH2-174 / LBN598 is actually a Planetary Nebula. The best part of this target is the reflecting dust clouds surrounding it. SH2-174 is very dim and requires a lot of integration time. It does not have much striking structure either. The Sulphur-II channel is especially important for providing a few structural details.
Some very interesting read here -
Planetary Nebula Sh2-174 | NOIRLab"Sh2-174 is an unusual ancient planetary nebula. A planetary nebula is created when a low-mass star blows off its outer layers at the end of its life. The core of the star remains and is called a white dwarf. Usually the white dwarf can be found very near the center of the planetary nebula. But in the case of Sh2-174 it off to the right. (It is the very blue star near the center of the blue gas). This asymmetry is due to the planetary nebula's interaction with the interstellar medium that surrounds it."This project started a year ago. On and off, it almost got abandoned because of the not-so-stellar narrowband data - and the almighty NSG script can't clean the gradients. Good thing is, SH2-174 is always there around the Polaris, even in the Galaxy season. That's why it is always used as the
"filler" target when there are no other targets available for imaging.
And here it is. Finally, the 70+ hours of data didn't get thrown away...
Clear Skies!#TeamNoctuaDSNM
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