Sh2-174 is an older planetary nebula near Cepheus and Polaris located at RA 23hr 47m 8s and DEC+80d 49m 22s (center of this image). It is reported that the white dwarf proginator star, GD561, has drifted away from the center of the nebula, but both are approximately 930 light years distant.  The object is very faint in RGB, and 11 hous of 3 nm H-a and OIII were used to bring out structural details.  A bright OIII region appears toward the upper right, as well as a more extended OIII halo further out, possibly from an early expulsive event.  Some structure also is apparent in the H-a region, which represents the shape of a horseshoe.The small mag 16.1 spiral galaxy toward the lower left of the image is PGC278942.

Data were automatically collected over several nights  (7/21-8/15) using CCDAutoPilot4 running MaximDL4.62 and PinPointPro for plate solving.  The system was guided using an SBIG ST-402 on an Astrodon MonsterMOAG.  Astrodon Generation 2 RGB filters and 3 nm Ha and OIII filters were used.  Data were calibrated, registered and initially processed in CCDStack. Final processing was done in Photoshop CS3.  The image is ~40' x 40' and North is up and slightly toward the left.