A little star cluster hauling a Christmas tree:

⁣Discovered about 2,500 light-years from Earth, the Christmas Tree Cluster is a bundle of young stars, most about 1 to 5 million years old. (For comparison, our Sun has been burning for more than 5 billion years.)⁣

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These stars give off X-rays that were picked up by our orbiting @NASAChandraXRay observatory, and are depicted here in various shades of blue and white. They’re surrounded by a nebula of gas observed by other telescopes, shown here in green, giving this cluster (officially known as NGC 2264) its memorable nickname.⁣

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Image description: A triangle of green gas, resembling a Christmas tree, is filled with blue and white stars that look like Christmas ornaments. Other stars and astronomical phenomena fill the background of the image.⁣

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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⁣

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#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Astrophotography #ChristmasTree #ChristmasDecor #RedTruckChristmas

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 24 December 2023