SpaceTime

Figure 1 : The Cone Nebula. Credit: Hubble Legacy Archive, NASA, ESA - Processing & Licence : Judy Schmidt Stars are forming in the gigantic dust pillar called the Cone Nebula. Cones, pillars, and majestic flowing shapes abound in stellar nurseries where natal clouds of gas and dust are buffeted by energetic winds from newborn stars. The Cone was captured in unprecedented detail in this close-up composite of several observations from the Earth-orbiting Hubble Space Telescope (Fig.1). The Cone Nebula, a well-known example, lies within the bright galactic star-forming region NGC 2264 (Fig.2). Figure 2 : This colour image of the region known as NGC 2264 — an area of sky that includes the sparkling blue baubles of the Christmas Tree star cluster and the Cone Nebula — was created from data taken through four different filters (B, V, R and H-alpha) with the Wide Field Imager at ESO's La Silla Observatory, 2400 m high in the Atacama Desert of Chile in the foothills of ...