NGC 2282/IC 2172 is a reflection nebula with an embedded star cluster
seen mostly in infrared light. Actually SIMBAD classifies it as a
reflection nebula, NED as a star cluster under the NGC 2282 name and an
HII region under the entry BSF 54 (Blitz+Fich+Stark HII regions). NED
says IC 2172 doesn't exist. The NGC project lists it as a reflection
nebula under both the IC and NGC numbers. It is located on Monoceros
and thought to be about 5500 light-years distant. The cluster contains
about 100 stars, a few of which are pre-main-sequence stars. It is
thought to be about 5 to 10 million years old. You can read more about
this object at
http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/f...J....113.1788H .
Like much of my imaging for 2012 and 2013 this one was severely damaged
by clouds and poor seeing. The color data was especially thin. It is
equal to only about 2 minutes of normal color data per channel rather
than my normal 20 thanks to the clouds. I tried several times for
better data but was thwarted each time. For that reason much of the
emission features around one of the field stars was lost. It had some
interesting wings that didn't survive the clouds. I'll try again in
2014 if the weather ever improves (still rotten as I type this). Still
this is a rarely imaged nebula that should get a lot more attention than
it is given so am putting this out hoping those with better skies will
give it a try.
14" LX200R @ f/10, L=4x10' (one very poor) RGB=2x10' (all very poor),
STL-11000XM, Paramount ME
Rick
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