NGC 2174 - the monkey

For something I had barely thought I could image, this thing surely turned out to be a beautiful assortment of coloured environments. It is also a well balanced photograph. There’s the blue Hydrogen-beta coloured smooth centre, dominated by the bright (7½m) star. Surrounding that are some dark grooves, some dark blobs, intensifying towards the pinkish-red edge, where some surrounding foreground dust blocks the light from us. Floating out towards the top is a smallish brighter nebula, with a different shade of blue, and a similar companion lying out in the dark dust cloud. And then over to the left is a strangely angular piece of deeper blue glowing cloud with its own little cluster. From this angle and zoom the nebula doesn’t live up to its name. The monkey nebula is a wonderful half degree sized nebula located above Orion’s right arm.
Later: I heard tha apparently the monkey's head is looking to the right with an upturned nose - doesn't look much like a monkey to me!