In 1966, van den Bergh distinguished the weak clustering of reflection nebulae that includes Sh 2-279 as Ori R2.

Van den Berg found that there was a strong concentration of new T Tauri stars around the Orion Nebula, tapering off into a tail approaching Sh 2-279.

The outline of the running man shows up primarily in photographs; it is difficult to perceive visually through telescopes, though the reflection nebula itself is visible in small to medium apertures in dark skies.

This ultraviolet light is photoevaporating the proto-planetary disks and the stellar wind of 42 Orionis is shaping the gas into cometary tails.

[9] All proplyds in NGC 1977 lie within 0.3 parsec of 42 Orionis and two have resolved central sources in the Hubble images, which might be the disks with radii of about 70 and 48 astronomical units.