NGC 2264 (Christmas Tree Cluster) · Seestar S30 Pro · 2026-02-19

NGC 2264 is a combined designation covering the Christmas Tree Cluster, a young open star cluster in Monoceros, and the adjoining Cone Nebula, a dark, pillar-like dust column at its southern tip. The complex lies approximately 2,350-2,700 light-years away, and is part of the broader Mon OB1 star-forming association, which also includes the nearby Fox Fur Nebula and Snowflake Cluster. Visually, the cluster's brighter stars trace a distinctive triangular, tree-like pattern (especially evident when the image is oriented with the cluster's apex down), while the Cone Nebula silhouettes a dense finger of gas and dust against surrounding faint red emission nebulosity. It is a popular target for combined broadband and Hα imaging, capturing both the cluster's colorful stars and the nebula's dark structures.

[Source: Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC_2264]

Annotated Image

The annotated version is shown above - click it to zoom. Open the annotated image at full resolution.

Sky Location

The chart above shows where this image sits on the night sky. The yellow outline is its field of view, with the picture itself drawn at its true orientation; north is up and east is left. Click the chart to zoom in, and use "open full resolution" for the full-size chart.

Image Details

PixInsight Processing

1. Fast Integration (x2)
2. Drizzle Integration (x2)
3. Dynamic Crop (x2)
4. BlurXTerminator (AI deconvolution) (x2)
5. GraXpert (gradient removal)
6. Spectrophotometric Color Calibration (x3)
7. NoiseXTerminator (AI denoise) (x3)
8. StarXTerminator (star removal) (x2)
9. Generalized Hyperbolic Stretch (x14)
10. Curves Transformation (x3)
11. PixelMath (x2)
12. SCNR

NGC 2264 is a combined designation covering the Christmas Tree Cluster, a young open star cluster in Monoceros, and the adjoining Cone Nebula, a dark, pillar-like dust column at its southern tip. The complex lies approximately 2,350-2,700 light-years away, and is part of the broader Mon OB1 star-forming association, which also includes the nearby Fox Fur Nebula and Snowflake Cluster. Visually, the cluster's brighter stars trace a distinctive triangular, tree-like pattern (especially evident when the image is oriented with the cluster's apex down), while the Cone Nebula silhouettes a dense finger of gas and dust against surrounding faint red emission nebulosity. It is a popular target for combined broadband and Hα imaging, capturing both the cluster's colorful stars and the nebula's dark structures.

[Source: Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC_2264]

Annotated Image

The annotated version is shown above - click it to zoom. Open the annotated image at full resolution.

Sky Location

The chart above shows where this image sits on the night sky. The yellow outline is its field of view, with the picture itself drawn at its true orientation; north is up and east is left. Click the chart to zoom in, and use "open full resolution" for the full-size chart.

Image Details

PixInsight Processing

1. Fast Integration (x2)
2. Drizzle Integration (x2)
3. Dynamic Crop (x2)
4. BlurXTerminator (AI deconvolution) (x2)
5. GraXpert (gradient removal) (x2)
6. Spectrophotometric Color Calibration (x3)
7. NoiseXTerminator (AI denoise) (x3)
8. StarXTerminator (star removal)
9. Generalized Hyperbolic Stretch (x7)
10. Curves Transformation (x2)
11. PixelMath
12. Multiscale Adaptive Stretch

NGC 2264 is a combined designation covering the Christmas Tree Cluster, a young open star cluster in Monoceros, and the adjoining Cone Nebula, a dark, pillar-like dust column at its southern tip. The complex lies approximately 2,350-2,700 light-years away, and is part of the broader Mon OB1 star-forming association, which also includes the nearby Fox Fur Nebula and Snowflake Cluster. Visually, the cluster's brighter stars trace a distinctive triangular, tree-like pattern (especially evident when the image is oriented with the cluster's apex down), while the Cone Nebula silhouettes a dense finger of gas and dust against surrounding faint red emission nebulosity. It is a popular target for combined broadband and Hα imaging, capturing both the cluster's colorful stars and the nebula's dark structures.

[Source: Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC_2264]

Annotated Image

The annotated version is shown above - click it to zoom. Open the annotated image at full resolution.

Sky Location

The chart above shows where this image sits on the night sky. The yellow outline is its field of view, with the picture itself drawn at its true orientation; north is up and east is left. Click the chart to zoom in, and use "open full resolution" for the full-size chart.

Image Details

PixInsight Processing

1. Fast Integration
2. Drizzle Integration
3. Dynamic Crop
4. BlurXTerminator (AI deconvolution)
5. GraXpert (gradient removal)
6. Spectrophotometric Color Calibration (x2)
7. NoiseXTerminator (AI denoise) (x2)
8. StarXTerminator (star removal)
9. Generalized Hyperbolic Stretch (x7)
10. Curves Transformation (x2)
11. PixelMath

NGC 2264 is a combined designation covering the Christmas Tree Cluster, a young open star cluster in Monoceros, and the adjoining Cone Nebula, a dark, pillar-like dust column at its southern tip. The complex lies approximately 2,350-2,700 light-years away, and is part of the broader Mon OB1 star-forming association, which also includes the nearby Fox Fur Nebula and Snowflake Cluster. Visually, the cluster's brighter stars trace a distinctive triangular, tree-like pattern (especially evident when the image is oriented with the cluster's apex down), while the Cone Nebula silhouettes a dense finger of gas and dust against surrounding faint red emission nebulosity. It is a popular target for combined broadband and Hα imaging, capturing both the cluster's colorful stars and the nebula's dark structures.

[Source: Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC_2264]

Annotated Image

The annotated version is shown above - click it to zoom. Open the annotated image at full resolution.

Sky Location

The chart above shows where this image sits on the night sky. The yellow outline is its field of view, with the picture itself drawn at its true orientation; north is up and east is left. Click the chart to zoom in, and use "open full resolution" for the full-size chart.

Image Details

PixInsight Processing

1. Fast Integration
2. Drizzle Integration
3. Dynamic Crop
4. BlurXTerminator (AI deconvolution) (x2)
5. GraXpert (gradient removal)
6. Spectrophotometric Color Calibration (x2)
7. NoiseXTerminator (AI denoise)
8. Multiscale Adaptive Stretch
9. Curves Transformation