Christmas Tree Shines in Deep Space in Stunning NASA Image - The Messenger
It's time to break the news.The Messenger's slogan

A cosmic scene has appeared right in time for the holiday season.

On Tuesday, NASA's released a new image of a cluster of young stars that looks uncannily like a Christmas tree.

Known as NCG2264, the image shows the cluster in X-ray, optical and infrared light — with those the green leaves actually corresponding to interstellar gas. Those shiny bright lists? They're actually young stars.

NGC 2264 christmas tree cluster
The "Christmas Tree Cluster" is shown in this composite image produced by several NASA telescopes.Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical: T.A. Rector (NRAO/AUI/NSF and NOIRLab/NSF/AURA) and B.A. Wolpa (NOIRLab/NSF/AURA); Infrared: NASA/NSF/IPAC/CalTech/Univ. of Massachusetts; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/L. Frattare & J.Major

NGC 2264 is about 2,500 light-years from Earth, home to stars aged between 1 to 5 million years that range in mass from a fraction of our sun to seven times its mass.

Stars inside the cluster experience X-ray flares that can be observed by Chandra. Some are similar to the flares our own star occasionally belches out, but the NGC 2264 stars' flares are more powerful.

Businesswith Ben White
Sign up for The Messenger’s free, must-read business newsletter, with exclusive reporting and expert analysis from Chief Wall Street Correspondent Ben White.
 
By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use.
Thanks for signing up!
You are now signed up for our Business newsletter.