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NGC 2264 is a cluster of young stars, between one and five million years old, located in the Milky Way Galaxy about 2,500 light-years from Earth, also known as the “Christmas Tree Cluster.” The stars in NGC 2264 range in size from less than one-tenth the mass of the Sun to about seven solar masses.
This time, the photomontage highlights the resemblance to a Christmas tree through color choices and rotation. The blue and white lights flashing in the image in the animated version represent young stars emitting X-rays discovered by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory.
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Optical data shows the nebula’s gas in green, corresponding to “pine needles” in the tree, and infrared data shows foreground and background stars in white.
- 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.
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