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Credit & Copyright: Michael Kalika
Explanation:
A star forming region
cataloged as NGC 2264,
this beautiful but complex arrangement of interstellar gas and dust is about
2,700 light-years distant in the faint but fanciful constellation
Monoceros, the Unicorn.
Seen toward the celestial equator and near the plane of our Milky Way galaxy,
the seasonal skyscape mixes reddish
emission nebulae
excited by energetic light from newborn stars
with dark
interstellar dust clouds.
Where the otherwise obscuring dust clouds lie close
to the hot, young stars, they also reflect starlight, forming blue
reflection nebulae.
In fact, bright variable star S Monocerotis is immersed in a
blue-tinted haze near center.
Arrayed with a simple triangular outline above
S Monocerotis,
the stars
of NGC 2264
are popularly known as the
Christmas Tree star cluster.
Carved by energetic starlight, the
Cone Nebula
sits upside down at the apex of this cosmic Christmas tree
while the dusty, convoluted pelt of glowing gas and dust
under the tree is called the
Fox Fur Nebula.
This
rich telescopic frame
spans about 1.5 degrees or 3 full moons on the sky top to bottom,
covering nearly 80 light-years at the distance of NGC 2264.
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NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: S Mon
Publications with words: S Mon
See also: