Overview
- A UAE observatory team unveiled a 35-hour long-exposure of NGC 2264 using a 108 mm refractor and a light‑pollution filter, with imaging by Mohammad Ouda and processing by Haitham Hamdi.
- Composite views credit NASA’s Chandra X‑ray data alongside optical data from the NSF’s WIYN Observatory, highlighting young stars, glowing hydrogen, and dark dust lanes.
- Best viewing is recommended between Orion and Gemini around 9–10 p.m. local time when the target reaches about 40 degrees altitude, with binoculars revealing the triangular star pattern.
- The Cone and Fox Fur Nebulae within the same region are faint features that typically become detectable only with telescopes of roughly 12 inches in aperture under dark skies.
- Reports place NGC 2264 at roughly 2,300–2,700 light-years away; the cluster catalogs near magnitude 3.9 while the broader complex spans about 1.5 degrees on the sky, or nearly 80 light-years across.