Release Images

Release No.: 2005-40
For Release: Thursday, December 22, 2005 - 8:00am

A Holiday Gift from Space: Spitzer Photographs Christmas Tree Cluster

Also known as NGC 2264, the Christmas Tree Cluster is an open cluster of stars embedded in a diffuse nebula. This image taken in visible light also contains two famous nebulae. At the bottom center of the image is the Cone Nebula, and to the upper left is the Fox Fur Nebula. When viewed upside-down, the entire cluster looks like a Christmas tree.

NOAO/AURA/NSF

Low Resolution (jpg)