Christmas Tree Clusters and Cosmic Wreaths: How NASA Celebrates Christmas in the Cosmos | UAP

Christmas is here, and so are brand new images of some of the most beautiful holiday-inspired celestial views available in the visible universe, courtesy of NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory.

Stunning new imagery of the “Christmas tree cluster,” NGC 2264, was released by the space agency on Dec. 17, 2024, which combines Chandra data with optical data obtained by Arizona based Astro photographer Michael Clow.

Visually rich and very much reminiscent of a Christmas tree decorated with colored lights, Chandra data can be seen in the new imagery in areas where red, purple, blue, and white, can be seen. The optical data obtained by Clow’s Arizona telescope is shown in green, making up the piney “branches” of this celestial evergreen, along with shades of violet that appear in the new image.

“Located about 2,500 light-years from Earth, NGC 2264 is a cluster of young stars between one and five million years old,” NASA recently said in a statement accompanying the release of the image. “The stars are seen here as blue and white lights surrounded by swirls of gas—the ‘pine needles’ of the tree—with green representing light in the visible spectrum.”

This cluster of stars, believed to be less than five million years old,…more