Just one day before the holiday celebrations, NASA released a picture of a celestial figure that looks a lot like a Christmas tree. This image shows a group of stars that are one to five million years old. They are organized in the shape of a vivid green tree that is illuminated by bright lights.
With a humorous nod to a popular Christmas song, the space agency posted this striking photo on X on Tuesday along with the statement, "It's beginning to look a lot like the cosmos."
Regarded as NGC 2264, the "Christmas tree cluster" is located in our Milky Way galaxy,some 2,500 light-years away. The stars in this formation range in size from less than the sun to larger than the sun, with some having up to seven times the mass of the sun.
These young stars radiate X-rays, which the Chandra X-ray Observatory at NASA can see as blue and white lightning. Gas in the nebula acts as the image's pine needles, or the metaphorical "tree's" needles, giving it its green glow.
When specific shades are added and the composite image is viewed at a specified rotation, it produces a display of dazzling lights that resembles a sparkling Christmas tree. The holiday season is made more magical by this celestial show.
NASA has already tweeted an image that looks like it belongs on Earth. The space agency previously released a picture of a storm on Jupiter that uncannily looked like a face. NASA even earlier released an image of a nebula that captured people's attention and challenged preconceived notions about the origins of life by presenting something as magnificent as the nebula.
People were enthralled with the picture and started talking about it. A user yelled, "Happy Christmas from orbit! There's even an animated version "A GIF depicting the tree decked up in blinking lights was included with the message. "Makes us feel like rockin' around," said another user, attaching a picture of a jolly Christmas tree. "Merry Christmas from millions of light-years away – the Christmas Tree Cluster," commented a third person. Thousands of people have liked and commented on NASA's post, which has received over 800 impressions. What features drew your attention to this Christmas tree? Post your ideas in the comments section.
You must be logged in to post a comment.