M78 (NGC 2068) is about 10 light years across, the brightest of the group of diffuse reflection nebula including NGC 2064, NGC 2067 and NGC 2071, all 1,350 light-years distant.

This group belongs to the Orion B molecular cloud complex, hundreds of light years across, stretching from Orion’s belt to his sword. This is one of the brightest and most active star forming regions visible in the sky, and includes the Orion Nebula (M42), De Mairan’s Nebula (M43), IC 434 and the Horsehead Nebula, Barnard’s Loop, the Flame Nebula, and the Angelfish Nebula.

Getting back to M78, it is visible due to the reflection of the light from two B-type stars, HD 38563 A and HD 38563 B. M78 includes 45 T Tauri variable stars, young stars that still in the process of formation and 17 Herbig–Haro objects, which are bright patches of nebulosity associated with newborn stars. HH objects form when stars eject narrow jets of partially ionized gas that collide with nearby clouds of gas and dust at several hundred kilometres per second. The jets are generally aligned with a star’s rotational axis, and most lie within about 3 light years of the star, lasting “only” few tens of thousands of years. 

My processing
I did calibration, registering and stacking in DeepSkyStacker.  In StarTools I extracted the background, did a development stretch, HDR, deconvolution and initial color. In Photoshop I used StarXterminator to separate the stars, then used APF-R for a multi-scale unsharp mask on the nebula layer, then noise was reduced with NoiseExterminator. Final color and levels and curves adjustments were then done, adding the stars back in with a linear dodge add. Then I did a final background noise reduction with Astrotools Deep Space Noise Reduction. 

Data from: The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada Robotic Telescope, Sierra Remote Observatories, Auberry, California
Imaged: 2021 January
Exposure 8 hours total, 4 hours Lum and 4 hours RGB                                     
Luminance:  16 x 900 s, 1x1
RGB: 8 each x 600 s. 2x2
Calibration: Flats, Darks and Biases (as Flat Darks)                                                                             
Telescope: RCOS 16" f/8.9 (3550mm focal length)                                                            
CCD Camera: SBIG STX16803 16MP (4096 x 4096)                                                             
Mount: Paramount ME                                                 
Filters:  SBIG LRGB