File:NGC 2264.jpg

From Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Original file (2,310 × 3,897 pixels, file size: 7.84 MB, MIME type: image/jpeg)

Captions

Captions

Add a one-line explanation of what this file represents
Description

A nebula with name NGC 2264

English: Newborn stars, hidden behind thick dust, are revealed in this image of a section of the Christmas Tree Cluster from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. The newly revealed infant stars appear as pink and red specks toward the center and appear to have formed in regularly spaced intervals along linear structures in a configuration that resembles the spokes of a wheel or the pattern of a snowflake. Hence, astronomers have nicknamed this the "Snowflake Cluster."

Star-forming clouds like this one are dynamic and evolving structures. Since the stars trace the straight line pattern of spokes of a wheel, scientists believe that these are newborn stars, or "protostars." At a mere 100,000 years old, these infant structures have yet to "crawl" away from their location of birth. Over time, the natural drifting motions of each star will break this order, and the snowflake design will be no more.

While most of the visible-light stars that give the Christmas Tree Cluster its name and triangular shape do not shine brightly in Spitzer's infrared eyes, all of the stars forming from this dusty cloud are considered part of the cluster.

Like a dusty cosmic finger pointing up to the newborn clusters, Spitzer also illuminates the optically dark and dense Cone Nebula, the tip of which can be seen towards the bottom left corner of the image.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/P.S. Teixeira (Center for Astrophysics)
Date
Source

en:Image:NGC 2264

Downloaded from: http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_476.html
Author NASA - NASA/JPL-Caltech/P.S. Teixeira (Center for Astrophysics)
Public domain This file is in the public domain in the United States because it was solely created by NASA. NASA copyright policy states that "NASA material is not protected by copyright unless noted". (See Template:PD-USGov, NASA copyright policy page or JPL Image Use Policy.)
Warnings:

File history

Click on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time.

Date/TimeThumbnailDimensionsUserComment
current21:31, 12 June 2008Thumbnail for version as of 21:31, 12 June 20082,310 × 3,897 (7.84 MB)Ladsgroup (talk | contribs){{Information |Description=A nebula with name NGC 2264 |Source=en:Image:NGC 2264 |Date=12 june 2008 |Author=NASA |Permission= |other_versions= }} {{PD-NASA}} Category:Astronomy {{ImageUpload|basic}}

You cannot overwrite this file.

The following page uses this file:

File usage on other wikis

The following other wikis use this file:

Metadata

This file contains additional information such as Exif metadata which may have been added by the digital camera, scanner, or software program used to create or digitize it. If the file has been modified from its original state, some details such as the timestamp may not fully reflect those of the original file. The timestamp is only as accurate as the clock in the camera, and it may be completely wrong.

Retrieved from "https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:NGC_2264.jpg&oldid=910815126"