A pine image — Daily Telescope: A colorful Christmas tree in the night sky O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree, you stand in splendid beauty!
Eric Berger – Dec 20, 2023 12:55 pm UTC Enlarge / A new image of NGC 2264, also known as the "Christmas Tree Cluster."NASA et. al. reader comments 0 Welcome to the Daily Telescope. There is a little too much darkness in this world and not enough light, a little too much pseudoscience and not enough science. We’ll let other publications offer you a daily horoscope. At Ars Technica, we’re going to take a different route, finding inspiration from very real images of a universe that is filled with stars and wonder.
Good morning. It’s December 20, and today’s image showcases two astronomical objectsthe Cone Nebula and the Christmas Tree Clusterthat combined are known as NGC 2264. (NGC, by the way, stands for New General Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars).
These astronomical objects are found about 2,300 light-years from Earth, and because they are relatively close, they are popular astronomical objects to observe in the night sky. This is a composite image from NASA and other organizations that combines observations from NASA’s Chandra X-ray observatory along with those from ground-based telescopes. The image has been rotated clockwise 160 degrees so that the “Christmas tree” appears standing.
So yes, if you looked into the night sky, this is not what you would see. But even astronomers like to celebrate Christmas, you know?
Happy holidays, everyone. I’ll be back with one final image on Thursday before taking a holiday break.
Source: NASA et. al.
Do you want to submit a photo for the Daily Telescope?Reach out and say hello. reader comments 0 Eric Berger Eric Berger is the senior space editor at Ars Technica, covering everything from astronomy to private space to wonky NASA policy, and author of the book Liftoff, about the rise of SpaceX. A certified meteorologist, Eric lives in Houston. Advertisement Channel Ars Technica ← Previous story Next story → Related Stories Today on Ars