NGC 2264
NGC 2264 is the designation number of the New General Catalogue (NGC) that identifies two astronomical objects as a single object: the “Cone Nebula”, and the “Christmas Tree Cluster”. The objects are located in the Monoceros constellation and are located about 720 parsecs or 2,300 light-years from Earth. The “Christmas Tree Cluster” was named for its triangular shape, formed by a cluster of very young stars, that looks like a tree in visible light: the brightest star is the “foot” of the tree, the tip points to the lower right corner of the image below. The “Cone Nebula” is very faint on this image.
Open star cluster NGC 2264 (“christmas tree”), Vorst (D), 17 November 2018, William Optics 110 mm APO FLT f/7, Canon EOS 600D, UV-IR, UHC filter, 400 ISO, f = 770 mm, 600 sec, PixInsight V 1.8.8-5
Due to the short exposure of only 600 s (November 2018), I revisited NGC 2264 in 2026 to obtain images in L, R, G, B and H-alpha. The exposure for L, R, G, B was 1800 s each, and 2400 s for H-alpha. The “Cone Nebula” is very prominent in the light of H-alpha.
Open star cluster NGC 2264 (“christmas tree”) and “cone nebula”, Kempen (D), 19 January 2026,
William Optics 110 mm APO FLT f/7, ASI 1600mm pro, PixInsight V 1.9.3.
Top: H_alpha (2400 s),
Bottom: LRGBH_alpha: L (1800 s), R (1800 s), G (1800 s), B (1800 s), H_alpha (2400 s)
.