This image shows a cornucopia of reflection and dark nebulae located in the constellation of Monoceros at a declination of +10 degrees. This area of the sky is about 2.5 degrees west of the more famous Cone Nebula, Christmas Tree cluster and the Fox Fur Nebula, and may be part of the same cloud complex. The red emission of the Cone Nebula region can be seen starting at the left edge of the image.
By the way, IC 2169 is the same object as IC 447, one of many DSOs which were identified and designated more than once.
I don't know of another small section of the sky which contains so many distinct reflection objects (7), all labeled in the annotated image. This field of view also contains numerous beautiful dark nebulae. The nebulae vary in distance between 500 and 3000 light years away.
In each reflection nebula, I like how the blue color transitions as you move across it. For example, IC 2169 subtly transitions from blue at the left to purple at right, and NGC 2245 transitions from blue at the bottom to white at top. I also like the many curving dark nebulae which provide a beautiful contrast to the colors of the reflection nebulae.
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Reminder – This object and 3100 more are included in the
Imm Deep Sky Compendium, a free planning resource to help astrophotographers find interesting targets in their night sky. Foreign language translations are now available in Spanish, French, German, Italian, Polish, and Chinese.
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