NGC 2346 (also known as the Butterfly Nebula) is a planetary nebula near the celestial equator in the Monoceros constellation. It is bright and conspicuous and has been extensively studied. Among its most remarkable characteristics is its unusually cool central star, which is a spectroscopic binary, and its unusual shape.

The binary star, which has a period of about 16 days, is also variable, probably due to dust in orbit around it. The dust itself is heated by the central star and so NGC 2346 is unusually bright in the infrared part of the spectrum. When one of the two stars evolved into a red giant, it engulfed its companion, which stripped away a ring of material from the larger star’s atmosphere. When the red giant’s core was exposed, a fast stellar wind inflated two ‘bubbles’ from either side of the ring. (Source Wikipedia).

The image was captured with the Meade 12"LX200, using the Atik 383L+ mono at F7.16. Astronomik's Ha, OIII and SII filters were used. All subs were taken at 1x1 bin, -10C, and 10 minutes each.

Ha : 52 subs (8.67 hr) on Mar 10th, 11th and 24th.

OIII : 28 subs (4.67 hr) on Mar 12th and 18th.

SII : 34 subs (5.67 hr) on Mar 13th and 20th.

Color mix for "Original" image was my concoction as per the following palette:

Red = Ha, Green = OIII, Blue = SII

Color mix for "B" (final) image was done per Juan's palette:

Red = 0.5Ha + 0.5SII, Green = 0.15Ha + 0.85OIII, Blue = OIII

I like the nebula results from the first palette. The final palette leaves the nebula a bit weak, but does do a better job on the background and stars. I suspect the nebula is mostly Ha emissions with substantially weaker OIII and SII.

Processing was done with PixInsight. Each filter set was integrated, processed and stretched. These were then combined with PixelMath as per the above palettes. The final images were further processed in PI, bringing them to the level presented.

North is up, and this is a medium crop. My new Starizona corrector (which I have been using for awhile) does not exhibit any non-correctable vignetting, so the medium crop was strictly to get a bit closer to this small object. I am fairly pleased with the outcome.