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This new image of NGC 2264, also known as the \u201cChristmas Tree Cluster,\u201d shows the shape of a cosmic tree with the glow of stellar lights. NGC 2264 is, in fact, a cluster of young\u00a0stars\u00a0\u2014 with ages between about one and five million years old \u2014 in our\u00a0Milky Way\u00a0about 2,500\u00a0light-years\u00a0away from Earth. The stars in NGC 2264 are both smaller and larger than the Sun, ranging from some with less than a tenth the\u00a0mass\u00a0of the Sun to others containing about seven solar masses.<\/p>\n
This new composite image enhances the resemblance to a Christmas tree through choices of color and rotation. The blue and white lights (which blink in the\u00a0animated version of this image) are young stars that give off\u00a0X-rays\u00a0detected by\u00a0NASA\u2019s Chandra X-ray Observatory.\u00a0Optical\u00a0data from the National Science Foundation\u2019s WIYN 0.9-meter telescope on Kitt Peak shows gas in the\u00a0nebula\u00a0in green, corresponding to the \u201cpine needles\u201d of the tree, and infrared data from the Two Micron All Sky Survey shows foreground and background stars in white. This image has been rotated clockwise by about 160 degrees from the astronomer\u2019s standard of North pointing upward, so that it appears like the top of the tree is toward the top of the image.<\/p>\n
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 this animation, 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. In reality the variations of the stars are not synchronized.<\/p>\n
The variations observed by Chandra and other telescopes are caused by several different processes. Some of these are related to activity involving\u00a0magnetic fields, including flares like those undergone by the Sun \u2014 but much more powerful \u2014 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.<\/p>\n
NASA\u2019s Marshall Space Flight Center manages the Chandra program. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory\u2019s Chandra X-ray Center controls science operations from Cambridge, Massachusetts, and flight operations from Burlington, Massachusetts.<\/p>\n
Read more from NASA\u2019s Chandra X-ray Observatory.<\/p>\n
For more Chandra images, multimedia and related materials, visit:<\/p>\n
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This release features a composite image of a cluster of young stars looking decidedly like a cosmic Christmas tree! The cluster, known as NGC 2264, is in our Milky Way Galaxy, about 2,500 light-years from Earth. Some of the stars in the cluster are relatively small, and some are relatively large, ranging from one tenth to seven times the mass of our Sun.<\/p>\n
In this composite image, the cluster\u2019s resemblance to a Christmas tree has been enhanced through image rotation and color choices. Optical data is represented by wispy green lines and shapes, which creates the boughs and needles of the tree shape. X-rays detected by Chandra are presented as blue and white lights, and resemble glowing dots of light on the tree. Infrared data show foreground and background stars as gleaming specks of white against the blackness of space. The image has been rotated by about 150 degrees from the astronomer\u2019s standard of North pointing upwards. This puts the peak of the roughly conical tree shape near the top of the image, though it doesn\u2019t address the slight bare patch in the tree\u2019s branches, at our lower right, which should probably be turned to the corner.<\/p>\n
In this release, the festive cluster is presented as both a static image, and as a short animation. In the animation, blue and white X-ray dots from Chandra flicker and twinkle on the tree, like the lights on a Christmas tree.<\/p>\n
Megan Watzke
Chandra X-ray Center
Cambridge, Mass.
617-496-7998<\/p>\n
Jonathan Deal
Marshall Space Flight Center
Huntsville, Ala.
256-544-0034<\/p>\n<\/div>\n