2/22/04 M78 and McNeil's Nebula

McNeil's Nebula was discovered by amateur astrophotographer Jay McNeil on January 23, 2004. That's an incredible find for an amateur using a 76mm (3 inch) telescope in his backyard, wow! Apparently it's peeking out from behind the thick cloud of dust pervasive in this area. McNeil's nebula is visible in my image as the small nebula in the top left side of the image. A review of old images shows that is was visible in 1966 as well.