This year, your living room isn't the only place with a large, sparkling green Christmas tree. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has found a place in space where there is a glowing cosmic tree during this holiday season.
The object, named NGC 2264, also known as the "Christmas Tree Cluster", is made up of young stars, some of whom are older than the Sun and between 1 million and 5 million years old. NASA says the cluster is located in the Milky Way, about 2,500 light-years from Earth.
NASA said the composite image of the cluster looks like a Christmas tree, emitting a bright green glow like blue and white dots of light. But the green light is actually gas, not pine needles and string lights, while the blue and white flashes are X-rays emitted by young stars.
A few weeks after the Webb Space Telescope and the Hubble Space Telescope unveiled their own findings, NASA announced the new "Christmas Tree Cluster," which is about 4.3 billion light-years away from Earth", which is one of the most detailed cosmic scenes depicted to date.
We call this cluster the Christmas Tree Cluster because it's so colorful, and because we find these twinkling lights in it."
This image of a star cluster is one of the "unprecedented" deep views of the universe, including an ancient star nicknamed "Mothra" that is said to have existed 11 billion years ago – long before the formation of the sun in our solar system.