High above Orion, near the zenith and within the swath of the Milky way, are three nice open clusters M36, M37, & M38. M36 is the middle of the three. It's about 4100 light years away (quite close) and spans about 18 light years. It's relatively young, at 100 million years old. That means that about 100 million years ago conditions were such that in this area of the Milky Way a cascade of star formation was triggered, and within less than a million years most of the members of this group were born. M42 is an example where you can see such an event is currently unfolding. There are about 60 members in M36, none particularly remarkable, but there is a nice cluster of fairly bright stars, probably the first ones formed, marking it's core area. Visually it is about 12 arc minutes in diameter, and has an overall magnitude of about 6.3. The brightest members are around mag. 9, which means that although it can be spotted with binoculars, its stars, and thus its beauty is best seen with the aid of a telescope.

10" F6.3 Schmidt Cassegrain Telescope, (1600mm F.L.) Modified Canon 40D camera with Baader coma corrector and IR-UV filter, placed at the scopes prime focus
8 photos aligned and averaged together, then brightness, color, and contrast enhanced.
Each photo, 120 seconds exposure at ISO 1600