#ngc 2264

[spacewonder19]

Christmas Tree Cluster and the Cone Nebula ©

[quiltofstars]

NGC 2264: The Cone Nebula (top) and the Christmas Tree Cluster (center) // yan zhipeng

[blasteffect]

Christmas Tree Cluster

This is an image of the NGC 2264 region, best known as the Christmas Tree Cluster sitting in the same neighborhood as the Cone Nebula, all tucked away in Monoceros about 2,500 light-years from us.

Astrophotography by Manuel Huss 

[thepastisalreadywritten]

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[without-ado]

Christmas Tree Cluster l Chandra Observatory

[blondebrainpowered]

Chandra Xray Observatory spotted the blue-and-white lights that decorate the "Christmas Tree Cluster," a swarm of stars and gas some 2,500 light-years from Earth.

NGC 2264

 is a cluster of young stars that has been colored and rotated to emphasize its nickname of the “Christmas Tree Cluster”.

This composite image contains X-rays from Chandra (blue and white), optical data from WIYN (green gas), and infrared data from 2MASS (white stars).

The stars in this cluster are between one and five million years old, compared to the Sun’s age of 5 billion years old.

Young stars are volatile and produce strong flares in X-rays and other types of light, but not in any coordinated way.

[cliozaur]

Dear mutuals! Merry Christmas!

About the image: Located about 2,500 light-years from Earth, NGC 2264 is a cluster of young stars between one and five million years old. The stars appear as blue and white lights surrounded by swirls of gas—the “pine needles” of the tree—with green representing light in the visible spectrum.

The image combines data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and optical data from astrophotographer Michael Clow’s telescope.

[lotusxpop]

GUYS GUYS IT'S LOKI

(It's NGC 2264 aka christmas tree cluster, but Loki T_T)