The Seagull Nebula

IC-2177 The Seagull Nebula in Monoceros

This beautiful nebula is at the border between the constellations Monoceros and Canis major and is about 3600 light years away from us. The wingspan of this bird is about 240 light years in itself. In addition to the nebula, the image shows 2 open clusters - NGC 2335 and NGC 2343. 

I was able to capture the shockwave of materials emitted by the double star FN Canis Major (HD 53974), scientists can't explain for certain how this shockwave formed, but they believe it's the interaction of strong solar winds with the dust in the nebula that formed it.

Overall this image is composed of just above 5 hours of exposures. A tricky catch this one, it's very low in the sky where I am and the conditions weren't great at the time of shooting.