This is NGC2264 but it is made up of the Christmas Tree Cluster, the Cone Nebula, the Stellar Snowflake Cluster, and the Fox Fur Nebula.

The Cone Nebula is at the bottom (well, looks like a cone…); the Fox Fur is named because it looks like a fox’s head – just to the right of the bright star (actually a double star). If you zoom in you can see what appears to be 2 eyes on the fox’s head; the Christmas Tree Cluster has the bright star at the top – the triangle of lights looks like a Christmas tree in visible light; the Snowflake Cluster is around the bright star, inside the Christmas Tree Cluster. Seriously, I don’t make this stuff up….

NGC2264 is an emission nebula in the constellation Monoceros not far from Orion. It is about 2350 light years away. The Christmas Tree Cluster was discovered by William Herschel on January 18, 1784. He did not discover the surrounding nebulosity until December 1785.

This was taken the evening of January 10 when temperatures were a balmy 6 degrees (that is not Centigrade). It is made up of 4 hours 50 minutes of 300 second exposures.

Thanks for looking!