This image is a 14 minute exposure with
an ST-9E CCD camera thru Kopernik's 20-inch F/8.1 Ritchey Chretien Cassegrain
telescope focal reduced to F/4. The field of view is about 16x16 arc minutes,
with North at the top.
This image is a 14 minute exposure with
an ST-9E CCD camera thru Kopernik's 20-inch F/8.1 Ritchey Chretien Cassegrain
telescope focal reduced to F/4. The field of view is about 16x16 arc minutes,
with North at the top.
This star is the brightest member of NGC 2264 and the brightest in the image above. It is an O-type blue super giant star also known as 15 Monocerotis. This is a very young, massive, and hot star that is about 8,500 times brighter than the sun. It is slightly variable, with a range from between 4.2 to 4.6 magnitude.
The image above shows the brightest portion of a large emission nebula that surrounds the very young Open Star Cluster NGC 2264 (aka The Christmas Tree Cluster). Both the cluster and the nebula cover a much larger area than is shown. The cluster is so young that most of its O, A, and B type stars are still in the final stages of formation. The famous "Cone Nebula" lies just outside the bottom of the image. The distance to this vast star forming region is about 1,100 light years.
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Classification: Open Star cluster with nebulosity; aka The Christmas Tree Cluster. |
Classification: O-Type blue supergiant star; irregular variable star. This is a very young, bright, & hot star; A member of Open Cluster NGC 2264. |
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George Normandin, KAS
January 19th, 2002