The ‘Christmas Tree Cluster,’ also known as NGC 2264, is located approximately 2,600 light-years away in the constellation of Monoceros.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!
This composite image shows the young star cluster NGC 2264, also known as the Christmas Tree Cluster. Image credit: NASA / CXC / SAO / T.A. Rector, NRAO, AUI, NSF, NOIRLab & AURA / B.A. Wolpa, NOIRLab, NSF & AURA / IPAC / Caltech / Universe of Massachusetts / L. Frattare / J.Major.
NGC 2264 is a cluster of protostars — with ages between about one and five million years old.
The stars in the cluster are both smaller and larger than the Sun, ranging from some with less than a tenth the mass of the Sun to others containing about seven solar masses.
“The new composite image of NGC 2264 enhances the resemblance to a Christmas tree through choices of color and rotation,” NASA astronomers said in a statement.
“X-rays detected by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory are presented as blue and white lights, and resemble glowing dots of light on the tree.”
“The optical data from NSF’s WIYN 0.9-m telescope on Kitt Peak is represented by wispy green lines and shapes, which creates the boughs and needles of the tree shape.”
“The infrared data from the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) show foreground and background stars as gleaming specks of white against the blackness of space.”
Young stars, like those in NGC 2264, are volatile and undergo strong flares in X-rays and other types of variations seen in different types of light.
“The coordinated, blinking variations shown in the animation above, however, are artificial, to emphasize the locations of the stars seen in X-rays and highlight the similarity of this object to a Christmas tree,” the astronomers said.
“In reality the variations of the stars are not synchronized.”
“The variations observed by Chandra and other telescopes are caused by several different processes.”
“Some of these are related to activity involving magnetic fields, including flares like those undergone by the Sun — but much more powerful — and hot spots and dark regions on the surfaces of the stars that go in and out of view as the stars rotate.”
“There can also be changes in the thickness of gas obscuring the stars, and changes in the amount of material still falling onto the stars from disks of surrounding gas.”
