2025年12月25日
Unicorn, Fox Fur and Christmas Tree
Image Credit & Copyright: Michael Kalika
Explanation: A star forming region cataloged as NGC 2264, this beautiful but complex arrangement of interstellar gas and dust is about 2,700 light-years distant in the faint but fanciful constellation Monoceros, the Unicorn. Seen toward the celestial equator and near the plane of our Milky Way galaxy, the seasonal skyscape mixes reddish emission nebulae excited by energetic light from newborn stars with dark interstellar dust clouds. Where the otherwise obscuring dust clouds lie close to the hot, young stars, they also reflect starlight, forming blue reflection nebulae. In fact, bright variable star S Monocerotis is immersed in a blue-tinted haze near center. Arrayed with a simple triangular outline above S Monocerotis, the stars of NGC 2264 are popularly known as the Christmas Tree star cluster. Carved by energetic starlight, the Cone Nebula sits upside down at the apex of this cosmic Christmas tree while the dusty, convoluted pelt of glowing gas and dust under the tree is called the Fox Fur Nebula. This rich telescopic frame spans about 1.5 degrees or 3 full moons on the sky top to bottom, covering nearly 80 light-years at the distance of NGC 2264.
Tomorrow’s picture: extrasolar flyby
独角兽、狐狸皮与圣诞树星云
影像提供与版权: Michael Kalika
说明: 星团NGC 2264是一个恒星形成区，它由星际气体和尘埃组成，美丽而复杂，位于距离地球约2,700光年的麒麟座中，这个星座虽然暗淡却充满奇幻色彩。在天球赤道方向，靠近银河系平面的位置，季节性的星空景象混合了由新生恒星高能量辐射激发形成的红色发射星云，以及黑暗的星际尘埃云。当这些通常遮蔽的尘埃云靠近炽热的年轻恒星时，它们也会反射星光，形成蓝色的反射星云。事实上，明亮的变星麒麟座S星就被笼罩在星团中心附近的一片蓝色薄雾之中。当这些通常遮蔽的尘埃云靠近炙热的年轻恒星时，它们也会反射星光，形成蓝色的反射星云。NGC 2264的恒星在麒麟座S星上方排列成一个简单的三角形，因此也被人们亲切地称为「圣诞树星团」。锥状星云由炽热的星光雕琢而成，倒立在这棵宇宙圣诞树的顶端；而树下那层由发光气体和尘埃构成的、波涛汹涌、错综复杂的星云，则被称为狐狸皮星云。这片丰富的望远镜画面，从上到下横跨约1.5度，相当于三个满月的大小，涵盖了NGC 2264距离下的近80光年。
明日的图片: extrasolar flyby
