NGC 2327, also designated in the Sharpless Catalog as SH 2-292, is located on the border of the constellations Monoceros and Canis Majoris.  The nebula is part of a large HII emission region commonly known as the Seagull Nebula.  NGC 2327 comprises the "head" of the SeaGull.  It shines primarily with the light of excited hydrogen gas but also has a blue reflection component.  A large band of dark obscuring dust bisects the nebula.  The nebula is located approximately 3,700 light-years from the Earth.

The image was assembled as a bi-color (Ha-OIII-OIII) near true color image with Ha mapped to the red channel and OIII mapped to the Blue and Green channels. The stars were overlaid with color from a separate RGB filtered image.

A narrowband Hubble palette version of this image may be viewed here.

¹http://www.skyfactory.org/ic2177/index.php