This image of NGC 2264, also known as the Christmas Tree Cluster, shows the shape of a cosmic tree with the glow of stellar lights. The blue and white lights are young stars that give off X-rays detected by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory. Optical data from the National Science Foundation’s WIYN 0.9m telescope on Kitt Peak shows gas in the nebula in green, corresponding to the ‘pine needles’ of the tree, and infrared data from the Two Micron All Sky Survey shows foreground and background stars in white.
Credits: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical: T.A. Rector (NRAO/AUI/NSF and NOIRLab/NSF/AURA) and B.A. Wolpa (NOIRLab/NSF/AURA); Infrared: NASA/NSF/IPAC/CalTech/Univ. of Massachusetts; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/L. Frattare & J.Major