This very interesting field, full of red emission nebulae, open clusters, dark nebulae and blue reflection nebula, is part of a large molecular cloud that is a star forming region located in the constellation of Monoceros. This area is part of the Orion spiral arm of our Milky Way Galaxy. Hold your mouse cursor over the image to see object identifications.

Sh2-273 is a large nebula complex that takes up most of the left side of the image.

NGC 2264 is the Christmas Tree Cluster and Cone Nebula at lower left.

At right-center is Dreyer's Nebula (IC 2169), a large blue reflection nebula. IC 2245, 2247 and 2167 are small reflection nebulae at right.

At the bottom center of the frame is the rich golden open cluster Trumpler 5, one of the oldest star clusters in the galaxy with an estimated age of 3 billion years. It is located 11,000 light-years away. NGC 2259 is a small open cluster at the top left.

The intricate dark nebula at top center is part of Barnard 37, which takes up most of the top right of the frame. Other dark nebulae in the image are LDN 1606, LDN 1607, LDN 1608, LDN 1609, LDN 1610 and B39.

North is to the top in the above image.

Northern Monoceros Object Type: Wide-Field Area Area Size: 3.65° x 2.43° Constellation: Monoceros Image Field Centered At: RA: 06h 36m 11s Dec: +10° 07' 13"