We’d be remiss to have the holiday season pass by without showcasing the lovely Christmas Tree Cluster. The area of sky in this photo goes by a number of names, including the Christmas Tree Cluster, the Cone Nebula and NGC 2264. The image above shows a region of space about 30 light-years across. Astronomers at ESO’s La Silla Observatory, in the Atacama Desert of Chile, captured this image. It includes the cone-shaped gas cloud at bottom, a profusion of red gas, plus bright, sparkling, bluish-white baubles … that is, stars.
The Christmas Tree Cluster lies in the direction of the constellation Monoceros the Unicorn. Monoceros rises in December not long after Orion the Hunter. The Christmas Tree Cluster is about halfway between two bright stars you might know: reddish Betelgeuse in the shoulder of Orion and Procyon in Canis Minor.
The 2025 EarthSky lunar calendar makes a great gift. Get yours today!
Can you spot it in binoculars?
You can view the Christmas Tree Cluster tonight! At magnitude 3.9, it’s visible without optical aid, but binoculars will give you a better look. Can you make out the Christmas tree shape with binoculars? Let us know in the comments below.
More images of the Christmas tree cluster
It's beginning to look a lot like cosmos. ?
Our @ChandraXray Observatory recently 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: https://t.co/VT2WaLgp77 pic.twitter.com/HrnrmxRyd7
— NASA (@NASA) December 19, 2023
Just in time for the holidays, the Christmas Tree Cluster. Its stars trace out a tree shape, the bright blue star is the trunk. Above it is the Cone Nebula. To its lower left is the Fox Fur Nebula. Had to toss 1/2 the last 2 night's 120, 5 min LRGB exposures bc of bad conditions. pic.twitter.com/HTEYCpxgpd
— Dan Burns (@kilroi22) December 13, 2023
Bottom line: The Christmas Tree Cluster is a collection of sparking bluish-white stars. It is above a cone-shaped cloud of gas in the direction of the constellation Monoceros the Unicorn.
The post The Christmas Tree Cluster, a December delight first appeared on EarthSky.
from EarthSky https://ift.tt/mZz3A1q
We’d be remiss to have the holiday season pass by without showcasing the lovely Christmas Tree Cluster. The area of sky in this photo goes by a number of names, including the Christmas Tree Cluster, the Cone Nebula and NGC 2264. The image above shows a region of space about 30 light-years across. Astronomers at ESO’s La Silla Observatory, in the Atacama Desert of Chile, captured this image. It includes the cone-shaped gas cloud at bottom, a profusion of red gas, plus bright, sparkling, bluish-white baubles … that is, stars.
The Christmas Tree Cluster lies in the direction of the constellation Monoceros the Unicorn. Monoceros rises in December not long after Orion the Hunter. The Christmas Tree Cluster is about halfway between two bright stars you might know: reddish Betelgeuse in the shoulder of Orion and Procyon in Canis Minor.
The 2025 EarthSky lunar calendar makes a great gift. Get yours today!
Can you spot it in binoculars?
You can view the Christmas Tree Cluster tonight! At magnitude 3.9, it’s visible without optical aid, but binoculars will give you a better look. Can you make out the Christmas tree shape with binoculars? Let us know in the comments below.
More images of the Christmas tree cluster
It's beginning to look a lot like cosmos. ?
Our @ChandraXray Observatory recently 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: https://t.co/VT2WaLgp77 pic.twitter.com/HrnrmxRyd7
— NASA (@NASA) December 19, 2023
Just in time for the holidays, the Christmas Tree Cluster. Its stars trace out a tree shape, the bright blue star is the trunk. Above it is the Cone Nebula. To its lower left is the Fox Fur Nebula. Had to toss 1/2 the last 2 night's 120, 5 min LRGB exposures bc of bad conditions. pic.twitter.com/HTEYCpxgpd
— Dan Burns (@kilroi22) December 13, 2023
Bottom line: The Christmas Tree Cluster is a collection of sparking bluish-white stars. It is above a cone-shaped cloud of gas in the direction of the constellation Monoceros the Unicorn.
The post The Christmas Tree Cluster, a December delight first appeared on EarthSky.
from EarthSky https://ift.tt/mZz3A1q
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