These may apply to the entire nebula, to its brightest knot, or to the star cluster it includes.

Burnham's Celestial Handbook lists the entire nebula as 2174/2175 and does not mention the star cluster.

[1] [6] Glowing gas and dark dust do not survive well in the Monkey Head Nebula.

Young stars near the center of the nebula generate stellar winds and high energy radiation that causes the nebula's material to shift into complex shapes.

[7] The nebula is primarily composed of hydrogen which glows at infrared wavelengths due to the radiation.