NGC 2174 - Monkey's Head Nebula
The Nebula known as the Monkey's Head in the constellation Orion is a glowing emission nebula that harbors a bright open star cluster. Discovered in 1877, this active stellar nursery contains young, hot stars that ionize the surrounding gas and create complex structures of pillars of dust and glowing gas. The small nebulous object in the lower left is the Small Emission Nebula Sh2-247. The image was taken with narrow-band filters outside the visible spectrum and converted to the SHO - Hubble palette.