This rarely imaged object is an open star cluster located 1600 light years away in the constellation of Orion at a declination of +10 degrees. The 2.8 magnitude cluster of 20 stars spans 70 arc-minutes in our apparent view, which corresponds to a diameter of 30 light years. The common name for this cluster is simply Orion's Head - this is the fuzzy spot seen with the naked eye which marks the head of the Orion constellation.
This cluster is also known as the Lambda Orionis cluster, named after the brightest star in the center of the image. This star, also known as Meissa, is seen in the image to be a double star, as is the 2nd brightest star (Phi1 Orionis) to the left of it. The 6 bright blue cluster stars across the center of the image are encircled by an oval of dimmer multi-colored cluster stars. This cluster flies under the radar and is not mentioned much in the literature.
If you are interested in seeing another cluster associated with a part of Orion, check out
Collinder 70.
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