We’d be remiss to have the holiday season pass by without showcasing the lovely Christmas Tree cluster. The area of sky in this photo goes by a number of names, including the Christmas Tree cluster, the Cone nebula and NGC 2264. The image above shows a region of space about 30 light-years across. Astronomers at ESO’s La Silla Observatory, in the Atacama Desert of Chile, captured this image. At the top, you can see a cone-shaped gas cloud – the Cone nebula – which also looks like an inverted Christmas tree! The area also includes a profusion of red gas, plus bright, sparkling, bluish-white stars that look like baubles. Wonderful!
The Christmas Tree cluster lies in the direction of the constellation Monoceros the Unicorn. Monoceros rises in December not long after Orion the Hunter. The Christmas Tree cluster is about halfway between two bright stars you might know: reddish Betelgeuse in the shoulder of Orion and Procyon in Canis Minor.
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Can you spot it in binoculars?
You can view the Christmas Tree cluster tonight! At magnitude 3.9, it’s visible without optical aid, but binoculars will give you a better look. Can you make out the Christmas tree shape with binoculars? Let us know in the comments below.
More images of the Christmas tree cluster
The Christmas Tree Cluster (NGC 2264) is a stellar nursery located about 2,500 light-years away in our Milky Way galaxy.More about this image/animated version + what Christmas lights look like in space?earthlymission.com/chirstmas-tr…Image: NASA
— Earthly Mission (@earthlymission.bsky.social) 2025-12-22T16:10:11.757Z
NGC 2264 is known as the Cone Nebula & the Christmas Tree Cluster & lives about 1000 ly from Earth in the constellation Monoceros. This 11 hr OSC capture was taken last February using a 102mm refractor with no filters. Finally got around to processing it in time for the holidays. ? #Astrophotography
— joegeiger (@joegeiger.bsky.social) 2025-12-15T15:53:17.965Z
Bottom line: The Christmas Tree cluster is a collection of sparking bluish-white stars. It is above a cone-shaped cloud of gas in the direction of the constellation Monoceros the Unicorn.
Read more: What was the Christmas star? Science and mystery
Read more: Will the U.S. have a white Christmas in 2025? Find out here!
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