Glittering with Hot Young Stars as Ornaments

The European Southern Observatory released this gorgeous image of  a 30 light-year-wide nebula of gas and dust called NGC 2264. It is set with glowing blue young stars that observers often call the Christmas Tree star cluster.  If this scene looks somewhat familiar, it’s probably because of the cone-shaped dark cloud at the bottom that we’ve seen in other images. It’s called, appropriately enough, the Cone Nebula.

The clouds appear red because they are being heated by intense ultraviolet light coming from the clusters hot, energetic young stars. In turn, they appear blue because they are hotter, younger and more massive than our own Sun.

The entire area shown here is just a very small small part of a much-larger cloud of molecular gas that is busily creating new generations of stars.  There are many interesting objects hidden in the nebulosity that makes up this stellar creche; if you could peer through the dust and gas into the area between  tip of the Cone Nebula and the brightest star at the top of the picture you could look into the cocoons where several newborns are forming. There is even evidence that these stellar embryos are blasting intense winds out from their birthplaces. Those winds will eventually clear away the shrouds of gas and dust surrounding the baby stars, and future observers will see hot young stars blazing forth.

If looking at gorgeous astronomical objects pleases you, then I can’t think of a more lovely image to celebrate the holidays with… so,  feast your eyes and enjoy these cosmic holiday gifts!