Ced 51 may be the most colorful an visually appealing areas of our night sky I have photographed. What a star-field! Orion has a plethora of targets including the beautiful Hind’s Variable and Dreyer’s Nebulae.
Cederblad 51 (often abbreviated as Ced 51) is a faint blue reflection nebula located in the constellation Orion. It is part of the larger star-forming region known as the Lambda Orionis Ring.
This region is also called Sharpless 2-264. It forms the “head” of Orion. Located approximately 1,300 to 1,500 light-years away from Earth. It typically appears as a blue reflection nebula, often appearing divided into two parts by a foreground dust cloud.
The reflection nebula is embedded within the much larger red H-alpha emission nebula Sh2-264. Nearby objects include the dark nebulae Barnard 30, 31, and 32. The region contains several Herbig-Haro (HH) objects, which are indicators of active and recent star formation. LDN 1582 and 1584 provide dark lanes for contrast. So much to see!
