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About the image: This is a true colour widefield image of the Monkeyhead Nebula (NGC 2174), the Jellyfish Nebula (ICC 443) and the open star cluster M35. Monkey Head Nebula: NGC2174 is a HII emission nebula comprised mostly of hydrogen gas located at the top of the constellation of Orion. It is associated with an open star cluster NGC2175 and is estimated to be around 6,400 light years from earth. The main source of energy within the nebula is a massive hot star known as HD42088, which is estimated to be 30 times the mass of our own sun and 6 times hotter. This star gives off intense ultraviolet radiation which is responsible for ionising the the gases in the nebula. M35 Open Star Cluster M35 is a close by open star cluster consisting of about 300 stars confirmed to be members of the cluster. it lies approximately 4,000 light years from earth with a diameter of 22 light years and an apparent magnitude of 5.1, making it just visible to the human eye under very dark skies.
Jellyfish Nebula: ICC 443, also known as the Jellyfish Nebula is the is a supernova remnant, the remains of a star which went Supernova estimated to have occurred anywhere between 3,000 and 30,000 years ago. The collapsed core of the remaining star is a Neutron Star designated CXOU J061705.3 +222127 which can be found in the constellation of Gemini. IC443 is an extended source with an angular dimension of 50 arcminutes, almost 1.5 times that of the moon (30 arcminutes). It is estimated to be 5,000 light years distance from earth. The jellyfish nebula is a very faint object, with an apparent magnitude of 12, see chart below for reference. Shapeless2-249 Found right next to the more well known JellyFish Nebula, SH2-249 is an even fainter HII emission nebula that is almost all hydrogen gas and some dust. There is no Oiii or Sii signal to be picked up. Many distant Galaxies. There are many very distant galaxies in the field of view but not visible in the image. However when looking at the annotated image the locations of known galaxies are marked as PGCxxxxxx
Annotated image version: (Click image to open full size)
Where in the sky is it?
The Jellyfish and Monkey head nebula can be found in at the edges of the constellations of Orion and Gemini. (Click image to open full size)
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