NGC 2264, also known as the Christmas Tree Cluster, is an open star cluster located in the constellation Monoceros. It is located at a distance of about 2,300 light-years from Earth. The cluster consists of gas and young stars in the shape of a Christmas tree, inverted in this image. NGC 2264 also includes the Cone Nebula and the Fox Fur Nebula.

The Christmas Tree Cluster has a lot going on in it. The overall red color is an emission nebula caused when UV light from hot young stars stimulates hydrogen such that is gives off its own light. The Fox Fur Nebula pictured towards the center includes both an emission and reflection components. The red part that looks like a fox pelt is an emission nebula. The blue-white part is a reflection nebula caused by blue light from young stars reflecting off dust clouds. The Cone nebula located near the bottom of this image is a pillar of dense gas and dust that absorb the light of the emission nebular behind it. This dense region will likely be the birth place of new stars.

I started this project December 23, 2022 and continued to collect data through Jan 25, 2023 but data collection was sporadic due to weather ranging from clouds, rain, snow and wind. As I wasn't sure of the quality of the data, I collected as much as I could and used weighting and local normalization while processing to sort everything out. 

My goal in putting together this composition was to convey the idea of hydrogen emission as a glow. Electrons in the nebula's hydrogen atoms stimulated by the UV light of the young stars jumps up to a higher energy level. When they fall back down they release photons in red wavelengths. I used a light application of arcsin stretch as it does a good job of preserving the intense color that otherwise gets washed out to white due to the limited dynamic range of our sensors and monitors. This same process also helps to tame the brightness in the Fox Fur Nebula thus allowing its blue color to show through.