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Unicorn, Fox Fur and Christmas Tree

📖 3 min read 📊 beginner 🏷️ NASA APOD

In Brief

A star forming region cataloged as NGC 2264, this beautiful but complex arrangement of interstellar gas and dust is about 2,700 light-years distant in the faint but fanciful constellation Monoceros, the Unicorn. Seen toward the celestial equator and near the plane of our Milky Way galaxy, the season...

Unicorn, Fox Fur and Christmas Tree

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The Full Story

A star forming region cataloged as NGC 2264, this beautiful but complex arrangement of interstellar gas and dust is about 2,700 light-years distant in the faint but fanciful constellation Monoceros, the Unicorn. Seen toward the celestial equator and near the plane of our Milky Way galaxy, the seasonal skyscape mixes reddish emission nebulae excited by energetic light from newborn stars with dark interstellar dust clouds. Where the otherwise obscuring dust clouds lie close to the hot, young stars...

Key Takeaways

  • 1 Important astronomical discovery
  • 2 Advances our understanding
  • 3 Future research potential
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How We Know This

Scientific observation and analysis

What This Means

Contributes to our knowledge of the universe

Why It Matters

Important advance in astronomy

Related Topics

#astronomy #discovery