Spitzer Space Telescope Sees Protostars in NGC 2264 | Astronomy – Sci-News.com
NASA has released a photo taken by its Spitzer Space Telescope that shows numerous newborn stars, or protostars, in NGC 2264.
This image from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope shows NGC 2264. The newly-revealed protostars appear as pink and red specks toward the center of the image. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / P.S. Teixeira, Center for Astrophysics.
NGC 2264 is located some 2,600 light-years away in the constellation of Monoceros.
This astronomical object contains the so-called Christmas Tree Cluster, the Snowflake Cluster, the Cone and the Fox Fur nebulae.
The infrared image from Spitzer reveals newborn stars hidden behind thick dust in NGC 2264.
“Since the stars trace the straight line pattern of spokes of a wheel, we believe that these are protostars,” Spitzer astronomers said.
“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 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,” they explained.
“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.”
