IC 2169 is located two degrees due west of the Christmas Tree cluster and the whole region of bright and dark nebulosity is part of the same molecular cloud complex Mon OB1.

E.E. Barnard visually discovered IC 447 = IC 2169, along with IC 446 = IC 2167, on 11 Oct 1888 with the 12-inch refractor at Lick Observatory. He noted "1 radius of 80x field [21'] south and 1 radius [21'] preceding the 7 1/2' m star [NGC 2245] is a large nebulosity, faint, that involves several 9 or 9 1/2 mag star. Nearly 1/2° in size, irregular(?)". His offset lands in the southern part of the nebula, though clearly he was referring to the entire portion. He picked it up again on 26 Feb 1889 and logged "22' S and 22' p. the neb[NGC 2245 is a vL neby, with some bright stars in it. It is extended N & S nearly, 15 x 12' +/- diam. There are 3 or 4 9th and 10th mag stars in a curve seemingly connected with it."

Barnard found this reflection nebula again photographically on 24 Jan 1894 with the Willard 6" lens and announced it in "Photographic Nebulosities and Star Cluster Connected with the Milky Way" (Astronomy and Astrophysics, Vol XIII, No 3). Barnard stated he first found it visually around 1888 "while sweeping over this region, I found a very large, weak, diffused nebulosity some half a degree south of the nebula[NGC 2245. This was mixed up with several considerable stars." His earlier visual discovery was not published but apparently he sent it later to Dreyer, so it was catalogued again as IC 2169.

Barnard retracted his discovery of IC 447 in Lick Publications, Vol 11, incorrectly claiming it to be identical to[NGC 2245. Hubble included this object in his 1922 paper "A general study of diffuse galactic nebula" in Contributions from the Mount Wilson Observatory / Carnegie Institution of Washington, vol. 241, pp.1-38.

400/500mm - 18" (2/4/08): at 175x unfiltered, this is a huge, interesting reflection nebula, ~25'x18', elongated N-S with an irregular outline and subtle variations in brightness. A number of mag 8-10 stars are superimposed, including mag 8 HD 46005 (illuminating star) which is part of a 10' N-S string of four brighter stars on the east side. Nearby reflection nebulae include NGC 2245 ~30' NE, IC 446 35' N and NGC 2247 40' NE (this group forms the association Monoceros R1).

600/800mm - 24" (1/31/14): picked up unfiltered at 200x, though low contrast as the entire field is patchy in faint stars and affected by some dust. Seems roughly 20'x10, elongated N-S and includes several bright stars (Cr 95) with mag 7.9 HD 46005 near the center (illuminating star), mag 8.9 HD 258853 near the south end, and a mag 9.3 star at or beyond the NW end. The contrast is significantly improved at 125x using a NPB filter and the outline is better defined, particularly at the southern end. Although the nebulosity is slightly brighter to the south of HD 46005, there are no high surface brightness sections.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb