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. 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 using the narrowband Hubble Palete. (SII-Ha-OIII) SII was mapped to the red channel, Ha to the green channel, and OIII to the Blue channel. The stars were overlaid with color from a separate RGB filtered image.
A near true color (Ha OIII OIII) version of this image may be viewed here
1http://www.skyfactory.org/ic2177/index.php