“Christmas Tree Cluster”: NASA shares photo of a star cluster resembling a Christmas tree

2023-12-25 06:00:23

A Christmas present from space. NASA shared this week a new photo of a cluster of stars, unofficially nicknamed the “Christmas Tree Cluster”.

“The blue and white lights are young stars that emit X-rays detected by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory,” specifies the American space agency. The published photo was taken by the famous James Webb Space Telescope.

A cluster discovered in 1784

In a statement, NASA explained in detail how such a photograph could have been immortalized. “The optical data (…) shows the gas in the nebula in green, which corresponds to the needles of the tree, and the infrared data (…) shows the foreground and background stars in white. » Along with the different photographs taken, a video was shared which gives the impression of a Christmas tree with lights flashing.

NASA releases new stunning image of “Christmas Tree Cluster”
NASA this week released a new image of a celestial formation known as the “Christmas Tree Cluster.” The stars appear to form the glowing shape of a tree. pic.twitter.com/PHIvEDMS6p

— CBS Sunday Morning ???? (@CBSSunday) December 24, 2023

The image has been rotated approximately 160 degrees clockwise from the astronomer’s standard of having North point upward, so that it appears as if the peak of the The tree is near the top of the image, adds NASA.

Located in the constellation Unicorn, the star cluster NGC 2 264 of its real name therefore has the particularity of resembling a Christmas tree, sometimes decorated with garlands and other decorations. It was discovered in 1784 by William Herschel, a German-British astronomer and is approximately 2,500 light years from the Solar System. This cluster is approximately 9 million years old.