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The Christmas
Tree Cluster, also known as NGC 2264, is a well-studied region in the
Monoceros (the Unicorn) constellation. The Christmas Tree Cluster,
the blue reflection nebula surrounding
bright stars, was so named because it looks like a tree in
visible light. The nebula is roughly 2,500
light-years away.
In order to produce the color image
seen here, I worked with data coming from 2
different photographic plates taken at Palomar Observatory
in 1989 and 1992. The original file is
6,818
× 7,426
pixels with a resolution of about 1 arcsec per pixel. The image show an
area of sky large
1.9°
×
2.1° (for
comparison, the full-Moon is about 0.5° in diameter). Other images of the same celestial field found online
This image is a composite from black and white images taken with the Palomar Observatory's 48-inch (1.2-meter) Samuel Oschin Telescope as a part of the second National Geographic Palomar Observatory Sky Survey (POSS II). The images were recorded on two type of glass photographic plates - one sensitive to red light and the other to blue light and later they were digitized. Credit: Caltech, Palomar Observatory, Digitized Sky Survey. |
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