We have all seemed for shapes in Earth’s clouds. However what about shapes in house clouds? For those who look at NGC 2264, you will see in a short time why this cluster of stars is nicknamed the “Christmas Tree Cluster.”
This cluster has turn out to be the latest topic of astrophotographer Michael Clow, who imaged it from Arizona in November. His optical information have been mixed with X-ray information from NASA’s Chandra X-Ray Observatory to create this stunning Christmas tree-like picture of NGC 2264, showcasing not solely the stars themselves, but in addition the fuel clouds between them.
NGC 2264 is positioned throughout the Milky Method, simply 2,500 light-years from Earth. And the celebrities inside it are very, very younger — only one to 5 million years outdated. By comparability, our middle-aged solar is about 5 billion years outdated.
The swirling fuel between the younger stars in NGC 2264 has been coloured inexperienced, whereas the celebrities themselves are proven in multi-chromatic hues. The result’s a really festive scene, if we do say so ourselves. (Final yr, NASA created a brand new composite picture of the cluster that even confirmed the stars twinkling like Christmas lights.)
NASA has additionally launched a second festive picture for the vacation season. This one reveals NGC 602, a star cluster on the sting of the Small Magellanic Cloud, which seems like a wreath illuminated by Christmas lights. However upon nearer inspection, these little lights aren’t solely stars, but in addition complete galaxies which can be far past the star cluster. (The cluster itself is a few 200,000 light-years from Earth.)
To create the picture, NASA mixed information from Chandra and James Webb Area Telescope. The X-ray information from Chandra reveal the younger stars throughout the cluster in crimson, whereas the infrared information from Webb present clouds of mud in orange, yellow, inexperienced, and blue.
