NGC 2264 is actually a collection of objects. It is,
first of all, a young open star cluster. This is sometimes
called "The Christmas Tree Cluster", because several of the
brightest members form the triangular shape of a Christmas tree.
The base of the tree is formed by the brightest star in this
image, with the tip formed by the bright star just to the right
of the "cone". The Cone Nebula is a towering (7 light years) mass
of hydrogen and dust, and near its tip a few newly born stars are
just emerging from the cloud. The final named nebula which makes up
NGC 2264 is the area of dark red near the bottom of this image, "The
Fox Fur Nebula". NGC 2264 also exhibits the characteristically blue
and yellow regions of reflection nebula. NGC 2264 is 2600
light years away, in the constellation Monoceros.

Image data:
Camera: Canon 350 XT (modified)
Exposure: ISO 800, 5 minutes x 36
Telescope: William Optics ZS 66mm, 0.8x reducer / field flattener
(the spikes on the stars were added during processing to give the
Christmas Tree a more "festive" appearance)