Dec 25, 2024
Chandra Xray Observatory spotted the blue-and-white lights that decorate the "Christmas Tree Cluster," a swarm of stars and gas some 2,500 light-years from Earth.
NGC 2264
is a cluster of young stars that has been colored and rotated to emphasize its nickname of the “Christmas Tree Cluster”.
This composite image contains X-rays from Chandra (blue and white), optical data from WIYN (green gas), and infrared data from 2MASS (white stars).
The stars in this cluster are between one and five million years old, compared to the Sun’s age of 5 billion years old.
Young stars are volatile and produce strong flares in X-rays and other types of light, but not in any coordinated way.
