The cone nebula and the Christmas tree star cluster (together they are officially identified as NGC 2264). The cone nebula is the dark cone near the bottom of the image, the Christmas tree cluster is composed of the stars above the cone. The bright star immediately above the cone nebula is the Christmas tree topper/”star”, and the bright star in the middle of the image is the base of the tree with the remaining bright stars between the two creating an outline of the tree. (it is upside down here). The bright stars are all relatively close to us in our galaxy and very young. The colors are part of the emission nebulosity of ionized gas. Image taken with a 250mm focal length scope located in Minneapolis. About 4 hours of total exposure taken over 2 nights.
