Nasa spots 'Christmas tree' in space

It's not just here on Earth where things are turning festive - Nasa has snapped a picture of a Christmas tree in space!

The US Space Agency released an image of NGC 2264, a group of young stars, that's also known as the 'Christmas tree' cluster because of its shape.

Scientists have highlighted the gas in the nebula in green to look like a tree, while infrared data showing the stars has been coloured white and blue, to appear as baubles and lights.

Keep reading to find out what other cosmic Christmas object Nasa has captured!

Cosmic Christmas tree

NGC 2264 is a cluster of young stars located around 2,500 light-years away from our planet.

The stars in the Christmas tree cluster are both smaller and larger than our sun - ranging from one tenth to seven times the mass of the Sun.

Because the stars in NGC 2264 are relatively young, aged between one and five million years old, they give off strong flares.

In comparison, our Sun is thought to be around 4.6 billion years old.

Nasa's Christmas wreath

Nasa also released this picture of star cluster NGC 602 - which looks like a Christmas wreath.

NGC 602 lies on the outskirts of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC), one of the closest galaxies to the Milky Way.

The image combines X-rays from NASA's Chandra telescope and infrared data from the James Webb Space Telescope.

The dark ring-like outline of the "wreath" is made up of dense clouds of dust.

You can also see young, massive stars that are illuminating the wreath, sending high-energy light into interstellar space.