The festive holiday came early for the star cluster, which is 2,500 light-years away!
ARIZONA, USA — Space is wishing Earth a Merry Christmas from 2,500 light-years away! A NASA telescope combined with data from an X-ray gave a special present for the holidays.
Although the star cluster is older than you, the stars are considered young. They are between 1 million and 5 million years old.
On Instagram, NASA posted photos of the beautiful and festive cluster on Christmas Eve. See the photos below.
NASA described that the stars appear in blue and white lights because of the X-rays they give off, which the Chandra X-ray detected. The stars are surrounded by swirls of gas, which look like pine needles of an evergreen tree. They are green because they represent the light in the visible spectrum, according to NASA.
“Wispy green lines and shapes resemble the boughs and needles of an evergreen tree, with glowing lights of blue and white – stars within the cluster – scattered across it,” NASA described the image in its post.
In November, Astrophotographer Michael Clow captures the first image below with his telescope in Arizona.
The second image shown in the second slide of the Instagram post was released last year. It was captured by the National Science Foundation’s telescope in Arizona.
NASA added that both images have been rotated to capture the top of the tree.