The Angel Nebula -NGC 2170

This image shows the aptly named Angel Nebula in the Constellation Monoceros, the Unicorn. The catalog entries for this area are NGC 2170, but there are many individually catalogued objects in this image (as well as a host of uncatalogued ones). This region really has it all - several hydrogen emission regions, dark molecular clouds, black absorption lanes and many large, hot young stars that illuminate it all.

Presented here in broad-band RGB with a mix of hydrogen-alpha narrow band data, the range of hues and shapes in this region is really astounding. This was a time-consuming image to produce - The Angel is best-placed during the summer months in NZ skies when the nights are short, but being rather faint, it requires a very long total integration time and moonless skies. I made this image from around 24 hrs of data collected between Dec ‘24 to Feb ‘25.