The “Christmas Tree Cluster,” NGC 2264, is a cluster of young stars in the Milky Way, about 2,500 light-years fromEarth This composite image, boosted by particular color options and rotation, portrays these stars, differing in size, as part of a cosmic Christmas tree. 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
NGC 2264, the “Christmas Tree Cluster,” is a star cluster in the < period class ="glossaryLink" aria-describedby ="tt" data-cmtooltip ="<div class=glossaryItemTitle>Milky Way</div><div class=glossaryItemBody>The Milky Way is the galaxy that contains our Solar System and is part of the Local Group of galaxies. It is a barred spiral galaxy that contains an estimated 100-400 billion stars and has a diameter between 150,000 and 200,000 light-years. The name "Milky Way" comes from the appearance of the galaxy from Earth as a faint band of light that stretches across the night sky, resembling spilled milk.</div>" data-gt-translate-attributes=" [{"attribute":"data-cmtooltip", "format":"html"}]" tabindex ="0" function ="link" >Milky Way , portrayed in a recently boosted image to look like a cosmicChristmas tree.
- NGC2264 is a cluster of young stars that has actually been colored and turned to stress its label of the “Christmas Tree Cluster.”
- This composite image consists of X-rays from Chandra( blue and white), optical information from WIYN( green gas), and infrared information from 2MASS( white stars).
- (*************************************************************************** )stars in this cluster are in between one and 5 million years of ages, compared to theSun’s age of 5 billion years of ages.
- Young stars are unstable and produce strong flares in X-rays and other kinds of light, however not in any collaborated method as is displayed in the animation.
Cosmic Christmas(*********************************************************************** ): NGC 2264’s StellarSpectacle (************************ )(************** )This brand-new picture of NGC2264, likewise referred to as the “Christmas Tree Cluster,” reveals the shape of a cosmic tree with the radiance of outstanding lights. NGC2264 is, in truth, a cluster of young stars– with ages in between about one and 5 million years of ages– in ourMilkyWay about 2, 500 light-years far fromEarthThe stars in NGC2264 are both smaller sized and bigger than the Sun, varying from some with less than a tenth the mass of theSun to others consisting of about 7 solar masses. AFestiveCompositeImage:Colors andRotation
This brand-new composite image improves the similarity to a(************************************************************************************************************************************ )tree through options of color and rotation.The blue and white lights( which blink in the animated variation– see video listed below) are young stars that produce X-rays found by < period class ="glossaryLink" aria-describedby ="tt" data-cmtooltip ="<div class=glossaryItemTitle>NASA</div><div class=glossaryItemBody>Established in 1958, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is an independent agency of the United States Federal Government that succeeded the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). It is responsible for the civilian space program, as well as aeronautics and aerospace research. Its vision is "To discover and expand knowledge for the benefit of humanity." Its core values are "safety, integrity, teamwork, excellence, and inclusion." NASA conducts research, develops technology and launches missions to explore and study Earth, the solar system, and the universe beyond. It also works to advance the state of knowledge in a wide range of scientific fields, including Earth and space science, planetary science, astrophysics, and heliophysics, and it collaborates with private companies and international partners to achieve its goals.</div>" data-gt-translate-attributes="[{"attribute":"data-cmtooltip", "format":"html"}]" tabindex ="0" function ="link" > NASA‘s Chandra X-rayObservatory Optical information from the National Science Foundation- supported WIYN 0.9-meter telescope on Kitt Peak reveals a nebula of gas in the cluster in green, representing the “pine needles” of the tree. Finally, infrared information from the Two Micron All Sky Survey reveals foreground and background stars in white. This image has actually been turned clockwise by 160 degrees from the astronomer’s requirement of North pointing up, so that it resembles the top of the tree is towards the top of the image.
This composite image reveals the Christmas TreeCluster The blue and white lights (which blink in the animated variation of this image) are young stars that produce X-rays found by NASA’s Chandra X-rayObservatory Optical information from the National Science Foundation’s WIYN 0.9-meter telescope on Kitt Peak reveals gas in the nebula in green, representing the “pine needles” of the tree, and infrared information from the Two Micron All Sky Survey reveals foreground and background stars in white. This image has actually been turned clockwise by about 160 degrees from the astronomer’s requirement of North pointing up, so that it resembles the top of the tree is towards the top of the image.
Stellar Dynamics and Observation Techniques
Young stars, like those in NGC 2264, are unstable and produce strong flares in X-rays and other kinds of variations seen at various wavelengths of light. The collaborated, blinking variations displayed in this animation, nevertheless, are synthetic, to stress the places of the stars seen in X-rays and highlight the resemblance of this challenge a Christmas tree. In truth the variations of the stars are not integrated.
The variations observed by Chandra and other telescopes are brought on by a number of various procedures. Some of these belong to activity including electromagnetic fields, consisting of flares like those gone through by the Sun– however a lot more effective– and locations and dark areas on the surface areas of the stars that enter and out of view as the stars turn. There can likewise be modifications in the density of gas obscuring the stars, and modifications in the quantity of product still falling onto the stars from disks of surrounding gas.
NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center handles the Chandra program. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory’s Chandra X-ray Center manages science operations from Cambridge, Massachusetts, and flight operations from Burlington, Massachusetts.
