The Seagull contains a long area of emission nebula (the
glowing red hydrogen that makes up most of this object), along
with some areas of reflection nebula (the blue and magenta regions),
some dark obscuring nebula (especially on the "head"), and a couple
of compact star clusters. It is 1800 light years from earth, and is
located on the border between the constellations Canis Major and
Monoceros.

This image won the Astrophotogallery.org "Seagull Nebula" Astroimaging Challenge for February 2008


Image data:
Camera: Canon 350 XT (modified)
Exposure: ISO 800, 5 minutes x 37
Telescope: William Optics 66mm ZS, 0.8x reducer / field flattener