This image captures a series of nebulae in the constellation of Orion at a declination of +9 degrees.

The central object consists of 2 LBN nebulae (LBN 878 and 879), 2 LDN nebulae (LDN 1594 and 1596) and a Barnard dark nebulae (B35).  The most striking object is the reddish arc shape which is the bright nebula LBN 878. The dark nebula slightly to the left of LBN 878 is Barnard 35.  The presence of some HII emission lights up the right edges of the dust clouds and creates a more interesting image.

The tiny yellow arc-shaped reflection nebula just left of Barnard 35 is GN 05.42.6, which surrounds the star FU Orionis.   

I like the interplay of red, blue and yellow reflections in the dust throughout the image, which creates a bit of a greenish tint in parts of the object.

The small beautiful blue PN seen in the full resolution view between Barnard 35 and the right edge of the image is NGC 2022.  A longer focal length image of this object is seen here:

NGC 2022

This tiny PN is located 8000 light years away and spans 30 arc-seconds in our apparent view. The actual diameter of the nebula is just over 1 light year.  The bluish central star is clear visible. The structure, with an elliptical inner rim, is a double shell object similar to a number of other PNs such as NGC 3242. The nebula is mostly comprised of OIII, with little Ha or SII.

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FYI, those of you who have contributed to my Astronomy Scholarship may have received notice that I launched the scholarship application process this week. Student applications are now being received. The link to the scholarship is here in case you have not seen it.  I will be awarding 2 $2000 scholarships to the winners in June.  Thank you for making this happen.  Please forward the link to any college students you know who have an interest in astronomy.  Because of tax laws, the scholarship is only awarded to students attending colleges in the United States.

I plan on awarding scholarship for future years as well.  Contributions to the scholarship fund are tax deductible and can be made at this link.  100% of contributions go towards the fund.

By the way, at the top of the scholarship, it reads "Funded by Gary Imm".  I am working with the scholarship company (Bold.org) to change this standard language that they use for all of their funded scholarships.  I asked them to change the wording to something like "Organized by Gary Imm", since the funding was provided by a number of people including many of you.