aka NGC 1982, is a star-forming nebula with a prominent H II region in the equatorial constellation of Orion.
It was discovered by the French scientist Jean-Jacques Dortous de Mairan some time before 1731, then catalogued by Charles Messier in 1769.
It is physically part of the Orion Nebula (Messier 42), separate from that main nebula by a dense lane of dust known as the northeast dark lane.

The main ionizing star in this nebula is HD 37061 , the focus of the H II region, 1,300 ± 160 ly This is a triple star system with the brighter component being a single-lined spectroscopic binary. The main component is a blue-white hued B-type main-sequence star with a stellar classification of B0.5V or B1V. It has 19±7 times the mass of the Sun (M☉)

The H II region is a roundish volume of ionized hydrogen. It has a diameter of about 4.5′, at its distance meaning it measures 2.1 ly