#ngc2264

This new image of NGC 2264, also known as the “Christmas Tree Cluster,” shows the shape of a cosmic tree with the glow of stellar lights. NGC 2264 is, in fact, a cluster of young stars — with ages between about one and five million years old — in our Milky Way about 2,500 light-years away from Earth. The stars in NGC 2264 are both smaller and larger than the Sun, ranging from some with less than a tenth the mass of the Sun to others containing about seven solar masses.

NGC2264 !

A beautiful and complex nebula that invites further investigation.

If you point your telescope at the Christmas Tree Nebula (NGC 2264), you will be looking across our spiral arm of the galaxy towards an adjacent outer arm. As the name suggests, there is a nebula here that resembles the shape of a conifer, but this beautiful and complex region has so much more. It is 2,700 light years distance, which is tiny on the scale of our galaxy but almost a million times more distant than the edge of our solar system.

Some places are seriously investigated, yet prominent areas seem neglected by researchers. We will focus on three regions:

The pink nebula at the centre.

The tiny triangular sprite at the upper-right corner.

The prominent dark “V” shaped region at the centre-left.

There is a sea of pink in this picture, but our focus is drawn to the texture of ripples and folds at the centre. “15 Monocerotis” is a cluster of hot young stars at the centre that energizes the nearby hydrogen and helium. To the right of the cluster, is the Cone Nebula, its distinctive shape the result of our perspective: there is colder molecular hydrogen and dust in the foreground.

This tiny triangular sprite was studied by Edwin Hubble at the Yerkes Observatory, and the Mount Wilson and Palomar Observatories using images from 1916-1949. Amateur astronomers have recently confirmed “light ripples” over a short period of time. One explanation is that it is reflecting light from the central 15 Monocerotis Cluster, and drifting dust is casting a faint shadow on it.

A large “V” shaped dark outline dominates the left side of this photo. It is unlikely to be an empty space because other stars from the adjacent spiral arm would appear in the background. As it is not illuminated, we can reasonably assume that it is sufficiently in the foreground to not be energized by the powerful 15 Monocerotis Cluster at the centre.

To my surprise, not much information is readily available about this prominent dark area, and these explanations are mere speculation. I understand that it is in an obscure catalog as “Schoenberg 205-206”.

I photographed the Christmas Tree Nebula from my garden in Strasbourg France on two evening in March 2026, and three evenings in March and February 2025. This final image was built from 210 photos, where each was a 3 minute exposure (10 hours of photography).

Equipment used to capture images:

Telescope: Redcat51

Computer: ASIAIR

Mount: AM5

Filter: Optolong L-Enhance

Camera: ASI183MC-PRO

Processing Software:

Pixinsight + WBPP + MAS

Blur Exterminator

Noise Exterminator

Star Exterminator 

NGC 2264

NGC 2264 is a nebula located about 2,700 light years away towards the constellation Monoceros, the Unicorn. There are a number of smaller nebulae embedded in the larger cloud, including the Cone Nebula and Fox Fur Nebula.

Stars in the cloud ionize surrounding gas, primarily hydrogen, creating emission nebulae glowing a characteristic red. Reflected starlight creates reflection nebulae, glowing blue. NGC 2264 contains both the star cluster called the Christmas Tree Cluster and S Mon, a bright variable star.