NASA unveiled a festive space Christmas tree, shining with lights from a distance of 2,500 light-years away (see photo).

Sometimes, people gaze at clouds on Earth and search for shapes of familiar objects, but now it's possible to look at cosmic clouds that reveal a "Christmas tree." Observing the scattered star cluster NGC 2264, located 2,500 light-years away, makes it clear why it resembles a festive tree, as reported by Space.

The star cluster NGC 2264 is referred to by NASA scientists as the "Christmas tree cluster," since in Western countries, it's customary to set up the tree for Christmas rather than New Year. The very young stars in this cluster are arranged in such a way that it creates the illusion of a festive tree shining bright in space.

This cluster was recently captured by American astrophotographer Michael Klow. His visible light data was combined by NASA scientists with data obtained from the Chandra X-ray Observatory. This resulted in an image of the star cluster NGC 2264, which resembles a Christmas tree. In this image, not only are very bright stars visible, but also clouds of interstellar gas located between them.

The star cluster NGC 2264 is situated in our Milky Way galaxy, 2,500 light-years away. The cluster consists of very young stars, with ages ranging from one to five million years. In comparison, our Sun is nearly 5 billion years old.

The interstellar gas has been colored green, while the stars are represented in various shades. Some stars in this cluster have masses that are 10 times less than that of the Sun, but there are also those with masses 7 times greater.

NASA has also presented another festive image. It depicts the star cluster NGC 602, located at the edge of the Milky Way's satellite galaxy known as the Large Magellanic Cloud. This cluster is situated 200,000 light-years away from us.

The image resembles a wreath illuminated by Christmas lights, as stated by NASA scientists. However, in reality, these lights are not just stars but entire galaxies located far beyond the star cluster.

To create this image, scientists combined data from the Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Webb Infrared Space Telescope. The X-ray data shows young stars within the cluster in red, while the infrared data displays clouds of dust and gas in orange, yellow, green, and blue.