NASA discovers “Christmas Tree Cluster” of stars glowing
Your living room isn’t the only place housing a large green Christmas tree with sparkling lights this year. NASA has found a spot in space with its own glowing cosmic tree for the holiday season
The object in question is named NGC 2264, otherwise known as the “Christmas Tree Cluster,” and is a formation of young stars – some of which are larger than the sun – between the ages of one and five million years old.
NASA says the cluster lies in the Milky Way, roughly 2,500 light-years from Earth.
“It’s beginning to look a lot like cosmos,” NASA joked in a tweet about the cluster.
A composite image of the star cluster makes NGC 2264 look like a Christmas tree, NASA said, with a bright green glow and what looks like blue and white sparkling lights.
But rather than being pine needles and string lights, the green glow is actually gas, while the blue and white sparkles are young stars emitting X-rays.
The blue and white dots aren’t blinking in sync as depicted in the composite, NASA said, and were coordinated as such “to emphasize the locations of the stars…and highlight the similarity of this object to a Christmas tree.”
NASA announced the new image just weeks after the James Webb Space Telescope and Hubble Space Telescope revealed their own holiday discovery – a “Christmas Tree Galaxy Cluster” roughly 4.3 billion light-years from Earth that’s one of the most detailed views of the universe ever depicted.
“We’re calling MACS0416 the Christmas Tree Galaxy Cluster, both because it’s so colorful and because of these flickering lights we find within it,” said astronomer Haojing Yan, one of the study authors. “We can see transients everywhere.”
The cluster image is among “unprecedented” deep views of the universe, and includes a visual of an ancient star nicknamed “Mothra” that is believed to have existed 11 billion years ago – long before the sun in our solar system formed.
See more here cbsnews.com
Header image: Astrobin
Please Donate Below To Support Our Ongoing Work To Defend The Scientific Method
PRINCIPIA SCIENTIFIC INTERNATIONAL, legally registered in the UK as a company 
incorporated for charitable purposes. Head Office: 27 Old Gloucester Street, London WC1N 3AX.
Trackback from your site.
aaron
| #
nasa is full of it and exists for money laundering and duping the people
Reply
Howdy
| #
Looks like Jabba the hut .rather than a tree, and a head is visible wearing a headdress.
Since there is no correct orientation in space, rotate the image to reveal different things.
Reply
Jerry Krause
| #
Hi Howdy,
You write “Since there is no correct orientation in space, rotate the image to reveal different things.” Do you not know that what you suggest is impossible and/or why it is impossible?
Have a good day
Reply
Howdy
| #
It is not impossible Jerry, the image is digital data that is easily manipulated. I carried the operation before I suggested It.
Reply
Jerry Krause
| #
Hi Howdy,
The star cluster is “4.3 billion light-years from Earth, hence from the telescope. The telescope is orbiting the earth and not the star cluster. While the telescope can be rotated 90 degrees, it certainly isn’t going to be pointing toward the star cluster..
Have a good day
Reply
Howdy
| #
Jerry, if I rotate a camera on it’s axis, it remains pointed at the target. Like a drill bit in a hole.
Nasa have chosen to use an Earth based view to name it, which is scientifically incorrect.
Reply
Jerry Krause
| #
Hi Howdy,
If you do as you describe it is true the telescope still points at the cluster but image doesn’t change, it is merely rotated 90 degrees just image you take with a camera does not change when you rotate the camera 90 degrees or 45 degrees or whatever.
Have a good day.
Have a good day
Reply
Howdy
| #
You know Jerry, my comment was about the image in the article.
“image doesn’t change”
It is not an image until acquired by the recording device.
OK, the perception of it changes then. If the image is rotated by 90 degrees, it assumes a shape of an animal with a mouth and eyes. This is actually my point exactly.
Which orientation is the cluster arranged in? which is correct attitude to view space objects in? Should one leave Earth orbit and be inverted relative to the Earth view, a description of ‘a christmas tree’ is nowhere near representative of what is seen.
Reply
Jerry kruase
| #
Hi Howdy,
Okay, I admit I didn’t carefully read your inital comment and went off a rabbit trail. Sorry! Thank you for getting me straighten out.
Have a good day
Reply