I've always found this area to be intriguing due to the contrasting colors of the associated nebula. This is a natural color capture using an OSC camera, processed in PixInsight and Photoshop. This region is located in the Monoceros constellation, and the distance is estimated to be 2,600 light years, which is near the same distance as the Rosette Nebula. The Cone Nebula is some 6 light years high. NGC 2264 is itself recognized as one of the youngest clusters known to be a star forming region. (portions from Burnham's Celestial Handbook)
From Wikipedia:NGC 2264 is the location where the Cone Nebula, the Stellar Snowflake Cluster and the Christmas Tree Cluster have formed in this emission
nebula. The Snowflake Cluster was granted its name due to its unmistakable pinwheel-like shape and its assortment of bright colors. The Christmas Tree star formation consists of young stars obscured by heavy layers of dust clouds. These dust clouds, along with hydrogen and helium are producing luminous new stars. The combination of dense clouds and an array of colors creates a color map filled with varying
wavelengths.I'm still struggling with the star spikes which seem to be inherent in this particular C 9.25 Edge HD. Using BlurXterminator exaggerates the star spikes even more so, but with the trade off of more detail in the nebula. I also find the dark nebula in the lower left intriguing as it appears to be encroaching into the bluish region, as if it was an unwanted visitor.
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