Just south of the large splashy open cluster NGC2264 in Monoceros, lies this enigmatic object seen here with north up. This is one of many nebula that lie in the area of S Monoceros, and can be equated to an object Just a dozen degrees west, the Horsehead Nebula in Orion. The Cone however is much more difficult visually and is often quite invisible in even large amateur telescopes. The origin of the cone is not well understood. The latest theories are that the head of the cone is a Bok globule, which has been elongated into the cone shape by a stiff stellar wind from the cluster.

Instrument:  12.5" f/5 Home made Newtonian
Platform:  Astrophysics 1200 QMD
CCD Camera:  SBIG ST7E w/Enhanced Cooling
Exposure:  LRGB = 60:20:20:36 (RGB Binned 2x2)
Filters:  RGB Tricolor
Location:  Payson, Arizona
Elevation:  5150 ft.
Sky:  Seeing FMHW = 2.5 arcsec, Transparency 8/10
Outside Temperature:  0 C
CCD Temperature:  -35 C
Processing:  Maxim DL, Photoshop, AIP4WIN, PW Pro.