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Credit & Copyright: Greg Gurdak
Explanation:
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.
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: Fox Fur Nebula - NGC 2264
Publications with words: Fox Fur Nebula - NGC 2264
See also: