The photodissociation of Fe56O was studied by means of the velocity map imaging technique. A molecular beam of iron atoms and iron monoxide molecules was created using an electrical discharge with an iron electrode in a supersonic expansion of molecular oxygen. The ground state iron atom Fe(D45) and FeO concentrations in the molecular beam have been estimated. The dissociation energy of the FeO XΔ5 ground electronic state was found to be D00(FeO)=4.18±0.01eV. The effective absorption cross section of FeO at 252.39nm (vac), leading to the Fe(D45)+O(P3) dissociation channel, is ∼1.2×10−18cm2. A (1+1) resonantly enhanced multiphoton ionization spectrum of Fe56O in the region 39550–39580cm−1 with rotational structure has been observed, but not assigned. Angular distributions of Fe(D45) and Fe(D35) products for the channel FeO→Fe(D4,35)+O(P3) have been measured at several points in the 210–260nm laser light wavelength region. The anisotropy parameter varies strongly with wavelength for both channels.