NGC 2264 is the designation in the New General Catalogue that identifies two astronomical objects as a single object: the Cone Nebula, and the Christmas Tree Cluster. Two other objects are within this designation but not officially included: the Snowflake Cluster, and the Fox Fur Nebula. All of the objects are located in the Monoceros constellation, just north of the midpoint of a line from Procyon to Betelgeuse, and are located about 2600 light-years from Earth.

The Cone Nebula is an H II region and was discovered by William Herschel on December 26, 1785. This nebula forms part of the nebulosity surrounding the Christmas Tree Cluster.

The diffuse Cone Nebula, so named because of its apparent shape, lies in the southern part of NGC 2264, the northern part being the magnitude-3.9 Christmas Tree Cluster. The cone's shape comes from a dark absorption nebula consisting of cold molecular hydrogen and dust in front of a faint emission nebula containing hydrogen ionized by S Monocerotis, the brightest star of NGC 2264. The faint nebula is approximately seven light-years long (with an apparent length of 10 arcminutes).

The nebula is part of a much larger star-forming complex. [Source: Wikipedia]

The image was captured with the TMB80SS (mounted on the "classic" Meade 12"LX200). The optical train included the Atik 383L+m, EFW2 and Orion Field Flattener at F6.3 (i.e. native 504mm FL). Guiding was done with the Solomark F50 guidescope and Lodestar camera combo. Astronomik's Ha narrow band and R, G and B broad band filters were used. All subs were taken at 1x1 bin, and -10C. The Ha were done at 10 minutes each, and the RGB were at 7 1/2 minutes each.

Image information -- 2016

Ha : 62 subs (10.33 hr) on Feb 15th, and 16th.

R : 22 subs ( 2.75 hr) on Feb 24th and 25th.

G : 23 subs ( 2.88 hr) on Feb 24th and 25th.

B : 23 subs ( 2.88 hr) on Feb 24th and 25th.

Processing was with PixInsight, following (for the most part) kayronjm's tutorial of Feb. 24th, 2013. Ha was used to develop the Luminance image. R, G and B and Ha were collected for the color mix. North is up, and this is a slight crop. Except for a bit too blue color, I'm overall pleased with the outcome.

EDIT 2/29/16: Second image reflects improved color balance, less blue.