NGC 2264 Christmas Tree Cluster & Cone Nebula: A Yuletide Postcard from the Galactic Expanse (Closeup)
This is a deep space photograph of NGC 2264, the Christmas Tree Cluster and Cone Nebula, some of the lovely night sky jewels in our Milky Way. Inside NGC 2264 is Sh2-273 the Fox Fur Nebula—which is the bright, blue nebula at the center of the image along with some intermingling nebulosity—which, now that I have been able to appreciate it more with this photograph, quickly became one of my favorite objects in space.
This is a second version of this photograph, meant to share some of the lovely objects in this nebulous region without needing to zoom in. This also orients the Christmas Tree Cluster—shown center to the right of the bright blue nebula and ending above at the round nebula which looks like Pac-Man chomping upward—in a way that may be easier to see.
Original Photograph With Wider View
www.flickr.com/photos/jamespeirce/54417032292
I’ve wanted to photograph this region for a while now with the idea of making a fun family Christmas card. Maybe even doing something seasonally themed with narrowband images and colorful RGB stars. And then probably never sending a Christmas card out again. That ambition got kicked down the road year after year for a while. Around the time NGC 2264 starts climbing in my skies temperatures are starting to drop well below freezing and weather become rather consistently cloudy and gloomy. Then the holidays come and go. And then, when I do have an opportunity coming out of winter, I’m usually after one of the other amazing winter targets.
This year, though, I decided to buck the trend, and spent some time on NGC 2264 over a couple clear nights coming out of winter. I’m glad I did! Some aspects of this nebula ended up being much more amazing than I anticipated, and the Fox Fur Nebula, and region around it, in particular, earned its place as one of my favorite objects in space, and this ended up being one of my favorite photographs.
This photograph of NGC 2264 was taken over three nights—one in 2022 and two in February of 2025—in Skull Valley, Utah. I used my Epsilon Takahashi 180D telescope for color images used to create this image and incorporated some narrowband (photographing specific wavelengths of light, much as the Hubble Space Telescope does) which I photographed with my Takahashi FS-60CB (0.72x Reducer) and my Takahashi FCT-65D (0.65x Reducer) (one night in 2022 and the other in 2025, with the later telescope upgrading the former). Images were stacked together and edited in PixInsight and Adobe Photoshop.
For more editing notes and other technical details see my website link below.
Equipment Used
Takahashi FS-60CB (0.72x Reducer)
Takahashi FCT-65D (0.65x Reducer)
- ZWO ASI2600MM Pro
- Astronomik MaxFR Hα & OIII
- Rainbow Astro RST 135E
- ZWO ASIAir Plus
Takahashi ε180D (1.5x Extender)
- ZWO ASI2600MC Pro Duo
- ZWO AM5
- ZWO ASIAir Plus
For more information about NGC 2264, other photographs, information about how this was photographed, editing notes, see:
mypetstars.com/astrophotography/NGC2264
Creative Commons License
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 DEED
Attribute to James Peirce
NGC 2264 Christmas Tree Cluster & Cone Nebula: A Yuletide Postcard from the Galactic Expanse (Closeup)
This is a deep space photograph of NGC 2264, the Christmas Tree Cluster and Cone Nebula, some of the lovely night sky jewels in our Milky Way. Inside NGC 2264 is Sh2-273 the Fox Fur Nebula—which is the bright, blue nebula at the center of the image along with some intermingling nebulosity—which, now that I have been able to appreciate it more with this photograph, quickly became one of my favorite objects in space.
This is a second version of this photograph, meant to share some of the lovely objects in this nebulous region without needing to zoom in. This also orients the Christmas Tree Cluster—shown center to the right of the bright blue nebula and ending above at the round nebula which looks like Pac-Man chomping upward—in a way that may be easier to see.
Original Photograph With Wider View
www.flickr.com/photos/jamespeirce/54417032292
I’ve wanted to photograph this region for a while now with the idea of making a fun family Christmas card. Maybe even doing something seasonally themed with narrowband images and colorful RGB stars. And then probably never sending a Christmas card out again. That ambition got kicked down the road year after year for a while. Around the time NGC 2264 starts climbing in my skies temperatures are starting to drop well below freezing and weather become rather consistently cloudy and gloomy. Then the holidays come and go. And then, when I do have an opportunity coming out of winter, I’m usually after one of the other amazing winter targets.
This year, though, I decided to buck the trend, and spent some time on NGC 2264 over a couple clear nights coming out of winter. I’m glad I did! Some aspects of this nebula ended up being much more amazing than I anticipated, and the Fox Fur Nebula, and region around it, in particular, earned its place as one of my favorite objects in space, and this ended up being one of my favorite photographs.
This photograph of NGC 2264 was taken over three nights—one in 2022 and two in February of 2025—in Skull Valley, Utah. I used my Epsilon Takahashi 180D telescope for color images used to create this image and incorporated some narrowband (photographing specific wavelengths of light, much as the Hubble Space Telescope does) which I photographed with my Takahashi FS-60CB (0.72x Reducer) and my Takahashi FCT-65D (0.65x Reducer) (one night in 2022 and the other in 2025, with the later telescope upgrading the former). Images were stacked together and edited in PixInsight and Adobe Photoshop.
For more editing notes and other technical details see my website link below.
Equipment Used
Takahashi FS-60CB (0.72x Reducer)
Takahashi FCT-65D (0.65x Reducer)
- ZWO ASI2600MM Pro
- Astronomik MaxFR Hα & OIII
- Rainbow Astro RST 135E
- ZWO ASIAir Plus
Takahashi ε180D (1.5x Extender)
- ZWO ASI2600MC Pro Duo
- ZWO AM5
- ZWO ASIAir Plus
For more information about NGC 2264, other photographs, information about how this was photographed, editing notes, see:
mypetstars.com/astrophotography/NGC2264
Creative Commons License
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 DEED
Attribute to James Peirce