M78

This is an image of M78. Actually, M78 is the brightest reflection nebula (blue nebula near the center) of a nebula complex that includes NGC 2064 (the red nebula near the bottom of the image), NGC 2067 (the reflection nebula just on the other side of the dark nebula from M78) and NGC 2071 (the reflection nebula in the upper left of the image). This nebula complex is about 1,300 light years away in the constellation Orion, slightly above Alnitak, the leftmost star in Orion’s belt.