M 78 Nebula in Orion The nebula Messier 78 (NGC 2068) is a reflection nebula in the constellation Orion. It was discovered by Pierre Méchain in 1780 and included by Charles Messier in his catalog of comet-like objects that same year.

M78 is the brightest diffuse reflection nebula of a group of nebulae that include NGC 2064, NGC 2067 and NGC 2071. This group belongs to the Orion Molecular Cloud Complex and is about 1,600 light-years distant from Earth. Many dramatically shaped Herbig Haro objects can be found in the southern part of this Image, as well of a lot of newly born stars are within this field.

Find an ESO/MPG image here. 

Image data:
2-pane mosaic, each LRGB (340-160-160-160 min) 20 min subs, total 27 h, north is up, seeing 0.9-1.4 arc-sec
80cm f/7 Astrooptik Keller cassegrain, FLI PL-16803, Baader filters, Prompt 7 CTIO Chile

Processing: Johannes Schedler

Find the mosaic in 18/36% size below and in 60% max size here.	A version with many of the objects labeled by Sakib Rasool can be found below