Astr110 Photography Projects, Spring 2005

Christmas Tree, Miranda Ward

This image is the Christmas Tree Cluster which is NCG2264. An interesting thing about this cluster is that it contains two famous nebula: at the bottom center of the image is the Cone Nebula, and to the upper left is the Fox Fur Nebula. You can also notice the bright star which is above the center of the image-this is known as S Mon. The S Mon is the fifth magnitude star and it forms the Apex of the Christmas Tree Cluster. Interestingly, the space that is around the star is filled with gas and dust clouds.

The Christmas tree Cluster was discovered by William Herschel in Bath, England in the year 1783. He would have never guessed that his discovery was at a distance of 57 light years. The linear size of this image is .23 light years. This image was taken with R,B,V,L filters.

This wide-field image of the Christmas Tree Cluster was taken at the National Science Foundation's 0.9-meter telescope on Kitt Peak.

References:

Image Gallery

Surfing Astronomy

David Darling Encyclopedia