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What it is : The unseasoned headliner cluster NGC 2264 , the so - called " Christmas Tree Cluster . "
When it was take : Between February 2002 and December 2011 , via eight observations span 137 hour .
photo of a green cluster of stars, gas and dust in space
Where it is:2,500 low-cal - days aside , within theMilky Way .
Why it ’s so especial : NGC 2264 is a clustering of stars with ages between 1 million and 5 million days — making them very new in comparison to our middle - aged sun , which is around 4.6 billion years one-time . NGC 2264 has been nicknamed " the Christmas Tree Cluster " thanks to its resemblance to an evergreen plant conifer .
The stars of NGC 2264 come in a range of size of it , with some measuring seven times prominent thanthe sunand others only 10 % the mass of our ace . The young stars in this image are the effervescent blue light shining through the cluster ’s green cloud of natural gas .
The Christmas Tree Nebula prototype is a " complex " of data point from dissimilar telescopes , and is an example of what can be created when astronomer unite observations in unlike wavelengths of light across theelectromagnetic spectrum .
The untested blue stars are peculiarly large in mellow - vigor X - ray radiation . So , to bewitch these cosmic pouf lights , astronomer used data compile byNASA ’s Chandra X - ray Observatory , a infinite scope peculiarly design to detect X - irradiation emissions from very hot regions of the cosmos without hindrance from Earth ’s atmosphere .
The glowing green gas of the Christmas Tree Nebula that shape its pine tree - similar shape was fascinate in optical Christ Within , the wavelength range that our heart have evolved to see , by the Wisconsin - Indiana - Yale - NOIRLab ( WIYN ) 0.9 - meter scope at Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona . Finally , the cover of blank stars both in front of the Christmas Tree Nebula and behind it was captured ininfrareddata by the Two Micron All Sky Survey ( 2MASS ) .
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After this data was hoard to progress this composite picture , the Christmas Tree Cluster was rotated about 150 point to put its tip at the top of the double .
The cosmic Yule tree diagram is arguably more intimate because , like many of the Christmas Trees that decorate our homes this class , someone forgot to decorate a spot . For NGC 2264 , that spot takes the form of a non-white nothingness at the bottom right of its Christmas tree - alike pattern , which someone should definitely hide by rotate it towards the recession .
