On May 23, 2024, the European Space Agency released an initial set of images from their Euclid mission. This included an unprecedented image of the region including M78. It showed hundreds of thousands of new objects including sub-stellar sized ones for the first time.
The coal seams in the Renton Formation at Squak Mountain were identified as a possible source of commercially viable coal as early as 1859, but large-scale operations didn’t begin until rail transportation reached the area in 1887.
Messier 78 (Wikipedia) Messier 78 or M78, also known as NGC 2068, is a reflection nebula in the constellation Orion. It was discovered by Pierre Méchain in 1780 and included by Charles Messier in his catalog of comet-like objects that same year.
