Wallpaper author:
Michelle Ashford
27 Dec 2025
NGC 2264 - A Cosmic Christmas Tree
NGC 2264 refers to two specific objects: the Cone Nebula and the Christmas Tree Cluster. Two other objects in this image are within this designation but not officially included, the Snowflake Cluster, and the Fox Fur Nebula. All of the objects are located in the constellation of Monoceros approx. 2,300 light-years from Earth.
The Christmas tree Cluster is an open cluster of about 40 stars which is immersed in nebulosity and forms the nearly perfect outline of a fir tree.
Dataset from which the image was processed
NGC 2264
1 credit
- Type of target............................................................................................................................Emission Nebula
- Camera............................................................................................................................FLI PL16803
- Target coordinates............................................................................................................................RA 100.22083 Dec 9.815
- Hemisphere............................................................................................................................Southern
- Telescope location............................................................................................................................Chile
- Transient event............................................................................................................................No
- Observed on............................................................................................................................16 Dec 2020 - 21 Dec 2020
Filter | Avg Exp (s) | Total Exposure | Subframes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Luminance | 300 | 20m | 4 |
| Red | 400 | 20m | 3 |
| Green | 800 | 40m | 3 |
| Blue | 200 | 10m | 3 |