The Christmas Tree Cluster is NGC 2264. The "cone" part is on the left part of the image, just below center. This includes the "Fox Fur Nebula". 
IC 2169 is in the area.
Above Image: 16 * 5 min = 80 minutes total exposures. Takahashi TOA 130 Telescope (a 5" APO refractor telescope) with the flattener, AP 900GTO mount, QHY8 CCD Camera. Other pictures from the camera are are here. Images processed using my Astronomy Image Processing Workflow. Compare with my older DSLR image below.
Other Images from Oct 2008 Davis Mountains are here. The 2008 "Holiday Version" is at the bottom of this page.
The Christmas Tree Cluster is NGC 2264. The "cone" part is on the left part of the image, just below center. This includes the "Fox Fur Nebula". SEDS info here. Also some good info here.
Image and processing notes: In 2008 I note the image above looks a little rough in parts of the nebula. This is another very dim object and I didn't have enough exposure to overcome the noise in the dimmer areas. It's represents an early processing effort and I could probably do a little better today. Combination of 8x4 minute exposures (32 minutes total exposure - I originally had 13*4 exposures listed, but reviewing it looks like it was 8). This area is very dim and I could use more exposure time. I did 3 applications of Neat Image noise reduction, as well as a selective Gaussian blur to help tame the noise. Takahashi TOA 130 (a 5" APO refractor) and Canon EOS D20a. This is resized to be about 30% of the original's size. My current image processing workflow is here.
Temperature ranged from ~51 degrees F at the start of imaging to 42 degrees when I was packing up and doing my last darks.
 Christmas Tree area - my best effort with the Nikon D100 - a major challenge with the due to weak red response of this camera. | Nebula Page |
| Astronomy Index: I actually want to find something specific Astronomy Pictures: Dick Locke's Astrophoto Gateway page.... |
hits.