Projecting a line from Bellatrix to Betelgeuse a similar distance beyond to the east (left) by eye, to the northern extremity on Monoceros is one of late winter’s treats.  Located about 2,500 light years from Earth is the star forming region NGC 2264, consisting of the Christmas Tree Cluster (an open cluster), the nearby so-called Cone Nebula and in between the Fox Fur nebula.  I first imaged these objects in 2014 and again in 2018 but now armed with better skills and equipment, a return to this rich area of the night sky which is full of HII, reflection and dark nebula was long overdue + I had a plan to obtain greater detail and colour than was hitherto achieved.

Key to the plan was greater integration time and with 13h 25minutes obtained over three nights at the end of February, this established a solid data foundation.  As ever with all broadband images, there’s an endless choice of permutations combining wavelengths to form a final image and inspired by the work of others, I used the popular SHO Hubble Palette but adapted here by using synthetic SII and OIII channels in PixInsight’s Pixel Math to enhance the related colours: SII = (Ha*0.30+SII*0.70) & OIII (Ha*0.40+SII*0.60+OIII).  The resulting final image has exceeded my expectations, as the colours and details here now successfully highlight the aforesaid central objects as well as the wider complexity and beauty of flowing dust and gases that abounds in this region, which also includes NGC 2261 Hubble’s variable nebula, NGC 2259 open cluster and the emission nebula LBN 902.