NGC 2264 (Filippo Bonfante)

Celestial hemisphere: Northern · Constellation: Monoceros (Mon) · Contains: Christmas Tree Cluster · NGC 2259 · NGC 2264 · The star 15 Mon

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NGC 2264

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NGC 2264

NGC 2264 is a young open star cluster located in the constellation of Monoceros, about 2,700 light-years away from Earth. It is also commonly referred to as the Christmas Tree Cluster due to its distinctive shape resembling a decorated Christmas tree.The cluster is relatively young, estimated to be around 3 million years old, and contains more than 3,000 stars. The brightest stars in the cluster are located near the top of the Christmas tree shape, while the cone-shaped structure below consists of dense gas and dust that is actively forming new stars.The most famous member of NGC 2264 is the Cone Nebula, which is a dark molecular cloud that is being illuminated and eroded by the hot, young stars in the cluster. The combination of the Cone Nebula and the Christmas Tree Cluster makes NGC 2264 a popular target for amateur astronomers and astrophotographers.NGC 2264 has been the subject of numerous studies in recent years, including research on the formation and evolution of stars, as well as investigations into the properties of the interstellar medium. The cluster is also an important target for NASA's Kepler spacecraft, which has been used to study the variability of many of the stars in the cluster.Overall, NGC 2264 is a fascinating object in the night sky that provides important insights into the process of star formation and the structure of our galaxy.

Please note: The following tables are updated every 24 hours.

Distribution of astrophotographers

This table shows the number of distinct astrophotographers who have been assigned and IOTD/TP award compared to the total number of images awarded.
	Distinct awarded users	Total awarded images
Image of the day
Top picks
Top pick nominations

Distribution of subject types

This table shows the distribution of awards per subject type, compared to the popularity of images of that subject type.
	Image of the day	Top pick	Top pick nominations	Total submitted
Deep sky
Solar system
Extremely wide field
Star trails
Northern lights
Noctilucent clouds
Landscape

Distribution of data sources

This table shows the distribution of awards per data source, compared to the popularity of images acquired from that data source.
	Image of the day	Top pick	Top pick nominations	Total submitted
Backyard
Traveller
Own remote observatory
Amateur hosting facility
Public amaeteur data
Professional, scientific grade data
Mix of multiple sources
Other
Unknown

The “AstroBin Image of the Day and Top Picks”, or IOTD/TP, is a long-running system to promote beautiful, interesting, peculiar, or otherwise amazing astrophotographs, with a focus on technical excellence. Learn more.

Submitted The date and time when you submitted this image for IOTD/TP consideration.	...
Views by Submitters (available since September 19th, 2023) Every image is assigned to 50% of available Submitters. In the event that at least 80% of them don't view the image before its time in the IOTD/TP process expires, it's assigned to the other 50% of Submitters and the process begins anew.
Promotions by Submitters When 3 distinct Submitters promote the image, it moves on to the next stage of the process: evaluation for Top Pick status. This requirement, in addition to anonymization of images and distribution to only a subset of them, prevents biases and ensures that the best images are selected.
Promotions by Reviewers When 3 distinct Reviewers promote the image, it moves on to the next stage of the process: evaluation for IOTD status.
Early dismissal Staff members have a lot of images to inspect on a daily basis, and they can dismiss images if they believe they don't meet the requirements for IOTD/TP selection. If an image is dismissed 5 times, it's removed from the process. This streamlines the process and ensures that any bias present in promotions could be overruled by other staff members.

Status	Basic success
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	7633522
PixInsight job	n/a
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	n/a

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NGC 2264

NGC 2264

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NGC 2264

NGC 2264

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