NASA releases images of stars resembling a Christmas tree

(CBS, KYMA/KECY) - NASA released images taken by telescopes at its Chandra X-ray Observatory showing a bright green cluster of young stars resembling a Christmas tree.

The images were released on December 19, just in time for the holidays. According to NASA the cluster known as NGC 2264 is a group of young stars in our Milky Way about 2,500 light-years away from Earth.

"This new composite image enhances the resemblance to a Christmas tree through choices of color and rotation," NASA said.

According to NASA, the blue and white lights are young stars that give off X-rays, detected by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory.

Data from the National Science Foundation’s telescope on Kitt Peak shows gas in the nebula in green and infrared data from shows foreground and background stars in white.