2023-12-24 18:01:00
the essential NASA published images this week of a stellar cluster with a very familiar shape. With a little imagination, you can see a garlanded Christmas tree.
Like a Christmas tree in space. NASA recently shared photos taken by the James Webb Space Telescope of the star cluster NGC 2264 located in the Unicorn constellation. Its particular shape and color have allowed it to acquire the nickname “the Christmas tree cluster”.
The American space agency described how this image could be made in a statement : “Optical data […] show the gas of the nebula in green, which corresponds to the needles of the tree, and the infrared data […] show the foreground and background stars in white”. Layering photos creates this impression of a Christmas tree decorated with tinsel.
In addition, the image has been rotated 160 degrees clockwise compared to the standard in astronomy with North which is normally at the top of the image so that the tip of the “tree” is found at the top of the photo.
As recalled The Parisian, this star cluster was discovered in 1784 by the German-British astronomer William Herschel. It is located 2,500 light years from our solar system and is believed to be 9 million years old.
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