**Christmas Tree Cluster (NGC 2264) with Blinking X-rays**
(Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical: Clow, M.; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/L. Frattare and K. Arcand; Video: NASA/CXC/A. Hobart)
The “Christmas tree cluster,” or NGC 2264, shows a cluster of young stars between one and five million years old. (For comparison, the Sun is a middle-aged star about 5 billion years old — about 1,000 times older.) The video of NGC 2264, which is much closer than NGC 602 at a distance of about 2,500 light-years from Earth, shows optical data captured by astrophotographer Michael Clow from his telescope in Arizona in November 2024, with the Chandra X-ray data blinking on and off.
Chandra data (red, green, and blue) has been combined with optical data (green and white)
zsirc on
Gotta love a repost – literally a day later and the same sub!
Just you removed and show the stars so it’s an ‘animation’
Sigh
poio_sm on
All I can see is the Rozan Shō Ryū Ha of Dragon no Shiryū from Saint Seiya.
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**Link to animation in this post**
[**https://chandra.si.edu/photo/2024/ngc602/**](https://chandra.si.edu/photo/2024/ngc602/)
**Christmas Tree Cluster (NGC 2264) with Blinking X-rays**
(Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical: Clow, M.; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/L. Frattare and K. Arcand; Video: NASA/CXC/A. Hobart)
The “Christmas tree cluster,” or NGC 2264, shows a cluster of young stars between one and five million years old. (For comparison, the Sun is a middle-aged star about 5 billion years old — about 1,000 times older.) The video of NGC 2264, which is much closer than NGC 602 at a distance of about 2,500 light-years from Earth, shows optical data captured by astrophotographer Michael Clow from his telescope in Arizona in November 2024, with the Chandra X-ray data blinking on and off.
Chandra data (red, green, and blue) has been combined with optical data (green and white)
Gotta love a repost – literally a day later and the same sub!
Just you removed and show the stars so it’s an ‘animation’
Sigh
All I can see is the Rozan Shō Ryū Ha of Dragon no Shiryū from Saint Seiya.