Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Monoceros (Mon)  ·  Contains:  15 S Mon  ·  B39  ·  Christmas Tree Cluster  ·  HD260664  ·  HD260665  ·  HD260729  ·  HD260730  ·  HD260759  ·  HD260792  ·  HD260793  ·  HD260794  ·  HD260893  ·  HD260933  ·  HD260958  ·  HD260985  ·  HD261015  ·  HD261052  ·  HD261053  ·  HD261054  ·  HD261085  ·  HD261086  ·  HD261141  ·  HD261170  ·  HD261172  ·  HD261200  ·  HD261230  ·  HD261262  ·  HD261305  ·  HD261330  ·  HD261331  ·  And 97 more.
Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
NGC 2264 - 2021, Gary Imm
NGC 2264 - 2021, Gary Imm

NGC 2264 - 2021

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
NGC 2264 - 2021, Gary Imm
NGC 2264 - 2021, Gary Imm

NGC 2264 - 2021

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Description

This image contains a series of objects located in the constellation of Monoceros at a declination of +10 degrees. I have included an annotated image to assist in the description below. The primary objects in the image, from bottom to top, are the Cone Nebula, the Christmas Tree Cluster (NGC 2264), the bright multiple star system S Monocerotis, the Fox Fur Nebula, and Barnard 39.

What about Sh2-273? Sh2-273 is a broad emission nebula about 4 degrees wide. There is much confusion over the Sh2-273 designation. I have seen it assigned to many different things, including the Cone Nebula and the HII emission arc at the top right of the image. But this entire image is just a subset of the large Sh2-273 nebula.

The most spectacular object in the image is the Cone Nebula. Similar to the Pillars of Creation, the Cone Nebula is a 7-light-year-long gaseous star formation pillar silhouetted against glowing red gas.

The Christmas Tree Cluster (NGC 2264) is an open star cluster of 600 blue young stars ionizing the reddish hydrogen nebula. The NGC 2264 designation includes both the star cluster and the nebula. In the image, the "tree" points down.

I have also identified 9 of the many Herbig-Haro objects in the image. These objects are tiny red arcs that are jets of gas emitted from forming stars and shrouded in dust. From Wikipedia - "Herbig–Haro (HH) objects are turbulent looking patches of nebulosity associated with newborn stars. They are formed when narrow jets of partially ionized gas ejected by these stars collide with nearby clouds of gas and dust at speeds of several hundred kilometres per second. Herbig–Haro objects are ubiquitous in star-forming regions, and several are often seen around a single star, aligned with its rotational axis. HH objects are transient phenomena that last around a few tens of thousand years. They can change visibly over quite short timescales of a few years as they move rapidly away from their parent star into the gas clouds of interstellar space. The first astronomers to study them in detail were George Herbig and Guillermo Haro, after whom they have been named."

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