Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Monoceros (Mon)  ·  Contains:  15 S Mon  ·  16 Mon  ·  B37  ·  B38  ·  B39  ·  Christmas Tree Cluster  ·  Hubble's variable neb  ·  IC 446  ·  NGC 2245  ·  NGC 2247  ·  NGC 2259  ·  NGC 2261  ·  NGC 2264  ·  NGC 2265  ·  PK201+02.1  ·  Sh2-273  ·  The star 15Mon  ·  The star 16Mon  ·  VdB79
In time for the holidays: NGC 2264 Christmas Tree, Chris Hunt
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In time for the holidays: NGC 2264 Christmas Tree

In time for the holidays: NGC 2264 Christmas Tree, Chris Hunt
Powered byPixInsight

In time for the holidays: NGC 2264 Christmas Tree

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Description

Merry Christmas to all who celebrate and test your imagination on this image! No wrong answers but I will throw in some suggested correct answers.... I will warn you there is geometry, holiday deorations, a frozen hexagon, two animals only one of which isn't from mythology!

This is NGC 2264 which refers to both the Christmas Tree Nebula and the Cone Nebula. This nebula is about 2600 light years away (this light that fell into my little telescope actually left these stars well before the first Christmas and actually much closer to the founding of Buddhism in India!). So lets start easy.....the Cone Nebula is in the upper right of the image and is small but has a bright star at the top of the "cone" which is actually the "tree topper" for the Christmas Tree Nebula which is made up of the bright stars around the green nebulosity with the brightest star at the bottom of the green nebulosity representing the trunk. Squint your eyes for the other stars and you can connect the dots and make a Christmas tree.

But wait there is more.....the Fox Fur nebula is just to the left of the "tree trunk star" (S Moncerotis). This hydrogen alpha region has a mottled appearance like fox fur with dark dust bands with areas of star formation. Finally, right in the middle of the greenish nebulosity just above the brightest star in the tree trunk is the Snowflake cluster which is a "little" cluster of stars that are being formed and oriented a little bit like a snowflake in my small telescope (maybe Santa will bring a bigger telescope for Christmas to show you all better next year!)....

So where is the mythological animal? Monoceros (the constellation name) is from the Greek for unicorn.

If you think all or a lot of this is really faint and hard to see, then you aren't alone! This nebula is in the constellation Monoceros which is actually such a faint constellation it is hard to even see with any sort of light pollution as it is one of the few major constellations without a bright star. Also this constellation contains one of the closest known black holes in our galaxy!

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Revisions

  • In time for the holidays: NGC 2264 Christmas Tree, Chris Hunt
    Original
  • In time for the holidays: NGC 2264 Christmas Tree, Chris Hunt
    C
  • In time for the holidays: NGC 2264 Christmas Tree, Chris Hunt
    D
  • Final
    In time for the holidays: NGC 2264 Christmas Tree, Chris Hunt
    E

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In time for the holidays: NGC 2264 Christmas Tree, Chris Hunt