NASA Embraces Holiday Spirit With Images of Stellar Wreath and Cosmic Christmas Tree

Scientists frequently combine data from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST/Webb) and Chandra X-ray Observatory (Chandra) to get a complete picture of cosmic objects and learn more about the Universe’s history. However, this week, the collaboration has a special festive twist as NASA shared new images of a cosmic “wreath” and “Christmas tree” in deep space.

“Since antiquity, wreaths have symbolized the cycle of life, death, and rebirth. It is fitting then that one of the best places for astronomers to learn more about the stellar lifecycle resembles a giant holiday wreath itself,” NASA writes.

The giant cosmic holiday wreath is the star cluster NGC 602, which lies along the edges of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC). The SMC is one of the nearest galaxies to the Milky Way, located just 200,000 light-years from Earth.

The stars in NGC 602 are unusually lightweight compared to the Sun and much of its surrounding galaxy. This means NGC 602’s stars possess relatively fewer heavier elements, which makes these stars a good stand-in for the stars found billions of years ago when the Universe was much, much younger.

NGC 602 as seen by the James Webb Space Telescope and Chandra X-ray Observatory. | X-ray: NASA/CXC; Infrared: ESA/Webb, NASA and CSA, P. Zeilder, E. Sabbi, A. Nota, M. Zamani; Image processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/L. Frattare and K. Arcand

The new image above combines Chandra and Webb’s data, creating a never-before-seen composite. Thanks to Webb’s infrared imaging capabilities, the dark ring-like outline that looks like a wreath is visible, showing orange, yellow, green, and blue sections comprised of dense cosmic dust clouds.

Chandra’s contributions are seen primarily as red, showing young, massive stars lighting up the cosmic wreath.

“These X-rays are powered by winds flowing from the young, massive stars that are sprinkled throughout the cluster. The extended cloud in the Chandra data likely comes from the overlapping X-ray glow of thousands of young, low-mass stars in the cluster,” NASA adds.

Beyond the new cosmic wreath image, NASA also released a new version of the “Christmas tree cluster” shared last holiday season. The latest version shows a “taller” tree with significantly more vibrant green detail.

Like NGC 602, the Christmas tree cluster, NGC 2264, is a cluster of young stars. In this case, they are between one and five million years old. As a reference point, the Sun is a middle-aged star at about five billion years old, 1,000 times older than the stars in the Christmas tree cluster.

NGC 2264, the ‘Christmas tree cluster,’ is only about 2,500 light-years from Earth. | X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical: Clow, M.; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/L. Frattare and K. Arcand

While the new NGC 602 image relies on data from the $10 billion Webb space telescope, this new Christmas tree cluster composite combines Chandra X-ray data with optical data captured by astrophotographer Michael Clow from the ground in Arizona last month.