Dark Nebula NGC 2170 in the constellation of Monoceros (The Unicorn)

Stars form within nebula NGC 2170, which lies in the constellation of Monoceros (The Unicorn). 

A dark nebula, such as this one, provides raw material for the star formation going on inside them. 

The newly formed, massive blue stars seen here continue to push away traces of the dust that previously hid them from view. 

The material that remains will eventually disperse in the interstellar medium.

In this beautiful celestial still life composed with a cosmic brush, dusty nebula NGC 2170 shines at the upper left.

Reflecting the light of nearby hot stars, NGC 2170 is joined by other bluish reflection nebulae, a compact red emission region, and streamers of obscuring dust against a backdrop of stars.

Like the common household items still life painters often choose for their subjects, the clouds of gas, dust, and hot stars pictured here are also commonly found in this setting - a massive, star-forming molecular cloud in the constellation of the Unicorn (Monoceros).

The giant molecular cloud, Mon R2, is impressively close, estimated to be only 2,400 light-years or so away. At that distance, this canvas would be about 15 light-years across.

This image shows a portion of the giant Monceros R2 molecular cloud and it was obtained with the wide-field view of the Mosaic II camera on the Blanco 4-meter telescope at Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory on January 11th, 2012. 

It is a location of massive star formation, particularly in the location of the bright red nebula just below the center of the image.

The image was generated with observations in the Sulphur [SII] (blue) and Hydrogen-Alpha (red) filters.

In this image, north is to the right, and east is up.