The nebula's dust cloud reflects light from its two central stars, making it visible. Infrared observations reveal an embedded star cluster[2] and a hierarchy of gas clumps with core masses ranging from0.3 M☉ to5 M☉.[7] M78 hosts:
On May 23, 2024, theEuropean Space Agency released a high-resolution image of M78 from theEuclid mission, revealing hundreds of thousands of previously unseen objects, including substellar bodies.[10]
^abcWalker-Smith, S. L.; Richer, J. S.; Buckle, J. V.; Smith, R. J.; Greaves, J. S.; Bonnell, I. A. (March 2013), "The structure and kinematics of dense gas in NGC 2068",Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society,429 (4):3252–3265,arXiv:1212.2018,Bibcode:2013MNRAS.429.3252W,doi:10.1093/mnras/sts582.
^ab"Messier 78".SEDS Messier Catalog. Retrieved30 April 2022.
^Strom, S. E.; et al. (July 1974), "Infrared and optical observations of Herbig–Haro objects.",The Astrophysical Journal,191:111–142,Bibcode:1974ApJ...191..111S,doi:10.1086/152948.
^Frommert, Hartmut; Kronberg, Christine (9 October 2018),"Messier 78",SEDS Messier pages, Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS), retrieved5 December 2018.
^Zhao, Bing; et al. (September 1999), "Newly Discovered Herbig-Haro Objects in the NGC 2068 and NGC 2071 Regions",The Astronomical Journal,118 (3):1347–1353,Bibcode:1999AJ....118.1347Z,doi:10.1086/301002.
