What do the following things have
in common: a cone, the fur of a fox, and a Christmas tree? Answer: they all
occur in the constellation of the unicorn (Monoceros).
Pictured as a star forming region and cataloged as NGC
2264, the complex jumble of cosmic gas and dust is about
2,700 light-years distant and mixes reddish emission nebulae excited
by energetic light from newborn stars with dark interstellar
dust clouds. Where the otherwise obscuring dust clouds lie close to the hot,
young stars they also reflect starlight, forming blue reflection nebulae. The
featured wide-field image spans over three times the diameter of a full moon, covering
over 100 light-years at
the distance of NGC 2264. Its cast of cosmic characters includes the Fox Fur Nebula,
whose convoluted pelt lies just to the lower right of the image center, bright variable star S Mon visible
just above the Fox Fur, and the Cone Nebula just
to the left. Given their distribution, the stars of NGC 2264 are also known as
the Christmas Tree star cluster.
Image & info via APOD
Image Credit & Copyright: Greg Gurdak
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