The Monkey's Head Nebula: Print

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The Monkey Head Nebula, also known as NGC 2174, is a striking emission nebula located in the constellation Orion, approximately 6,400 light-years away from Earth. It's characterised by its vibrant hues of pink and red, which are caused by the ionisation of hydrogen gas through radiation from nearby stars. The nebula is named for its resemblance to a monkey's head, featuring intricate structures of gas and dust. It is a region of active star formation, with many new stars born from the dense molecular clouds within it.

This image was taken over 4 nights using 20 minutes sub exposures totally 15 hours. Using narrow-band filters to capture the data I was able to process the final image and use the "Hubble Palette"

The Hubble Palette is a colour mapping technique used in astrophotography to enhance and differentiate the details of celestial objects, such as nebulae, captured by telescopes. It assigns specific colours to different wavelengths of light: typically, sulphur-II (SII) emissions are mapped to red, hydrogen-alpha (Ha) emissions to green, and oxygen-III (OIII) emissions to blue. This technique highlights features that are not visible to the naked eye, creating vibrant and detailed images of space phenomena.