It’s Christmas in space! The star cluster forms a Christmas tree

• The image is rotated 160 degrees clockwise so that the top of the tree is at the top of the image;
• The variations observed in young stars are the result of various processes, such as activity involving magnetic fields, including solar flares, hot spots, and dark regions on stellar surfaces that move in and out of our field of view as the stars rotate;
• There may also be changes in the thickness of the gas obscuring the stars and in the amount of material still falling onto the stars from the surrounding disks of gas.

The blue and white lights (flashing in the animated version below) are young stars emitting X-rays discovered by Chandra. Optical data from the National Science Foundation’s WIYN 0.9-meter telescope on Kitt Peak shows gas in the nebula in green, consistent with “pine needles” in the tree, infrared data from the Two Micron All Sky Survey show Survey empty front and back stars.

This image has been rotated clockwise about 160 degrees from the astronomical pointing pattern to the north, so that the top of the tree appears to be facing the top of the image.

Watch the Christmas tree set in an animated version below:

NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center manages the Chandra program. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory’s Chandra X-ray Center controls science operations from Cambridge, Massachusetts, and flight operations from Burlington, Massachusetts.