NGC 2264 is a star-forming area in the late winter constellation Monoceros, comprising two separately identified deep sky objects, the Cone Nebula and the Christmas Tree Cluster. These two objects are actually in close proximity to each other, at a distance of about 2500 light years, and do not just appear to be close to each other because they lie in the same direction when seen from Earth.

The Christmas Tree Cluster is formed by several bright stars, the brightest of which, 15 Monoceros, is in the middle of the tree's "trunk". Just above the "tip" of the tree the Cone Nebula is seen, inverted in this image. The Cone Nebula is an area of dark nebulosity in front of glowing Hydrogen gas excited by the intense radiation from 15 Monoceros.

This image was created from 60 ninety second exposures captured on 5-Mar-2023 from my backyard. The telescope used was a William Optics Fluorostar 91. A ZWO ASI071MC Pro camera was attached to the telescope, with a 0.8X reducer / flattener in between the telescope and the camera. The effective focal length of this combination is 432 millimeters, and the focal ratio is f/4.7.