Sh2-264

Lambda Ori Ring's molecular cloud, a type of star-forming zone in a nebula, is the main feature, made out at long exposure of usually over one minute, only, in visible light, in clear dry skies. Betelgeuse and Bellatrix are south-east and south-west of the formation, forever cast as Alpha and Gamma by Bayer, they are near the top of Orion and in myth represent the hunter's shoulders.

Sharpless 264, also known as the Lambda Orionis Ring, is a molecular cloud and H II region, which can be seen in the northern region of the Orion molecular cloud complex (OMCC), in the constellation of Orion. The OMCC is one of the best-known star formation regions and the closest sector of the Milky Way to the Solar System where high-mass stars are born. The nebula is named after its main star, λ Orionis, a blue giant responsible for the ionization of the surrounding material.[1] It is also sometimes called the Angelfish Nebula due to its resemblance as to its lighter areas (pink to peach colour) to an angelfish. In the infrared its ionized boundaries are that which appears, instead.

  1. ^ Mathieu, R. D., The λ Orionis Star Forming Region, in Handbook of Star Forming Regions, Volume I: The Northern Sky ASP Monograph Publications, vol. 4, Bo Reipurth, December 2008, p. 757, ISBN 978-1-58381-670-7.