Which size is right for your space?

• Living room (above sofa): 48x32
• Bedroom (above headboard): 36x24 or 48x32
• Dining room: 36x24 or 48x32, depending on wall size
• Home office or den: 30x20 or 36x24
• Large foyer or entryway: 48x32
• Hallway, bathroom, or gallery wall: 18x12 or 24x16

When in doubt, go bigger than you think. The art, including any frame, should fill about ⅔ the width of the furniture beneath it. Sizes listed are the photograph itself; framed paper prints, with a 2" mat and frame, are about 3–5" larger in each direction.

See it on your wall before you order

Use the buttons below the image:

• Wall Preview: upload a photo of your room and see this print on your wall in your chosen size and frame.
• Live Preview AR: on your phone or tablet, point your camera at your wall and see the print there in real time.

Framed prints arrive ready to hang

Framed paper prints are matted with a 2" white mat and protected by non-glare acrylic, so the image stays clear without reflections from windows or lights. Acrylic is lighter and safer to ship than glass, and every framed print arrives with hanging hardware already attached.

MetalPrints with a float mount or frame also arrive ready to hang.

Questions about size, material, or framing? See the FAQ or email me a photo of your wall, and I'll suggest a size and finish.

About this photograph

NGC 2264 is centered around The Christmas Tree Cluster. This is a young open cluster located in the constellation Monoceros. It is part of the star-forming region NGC 2264, which also contains the Cone Nebula, the Fox Fur Nebula, and the Snowflake Cluster. This major star nursery is responsible for the emission nebulae (Cone and Fox Fur) of this region.

The Christmas Tree Cluster lies at an approximate distance of 2,350 light-years and stretches about 30 light-years across. It is a member of the Monoceros OB1 association, a loose association of very young stars in the Orion Arm of the Milky Way.

The stars in the cluster formed within the emission nebula NGC 2264. They are still heavily obscured by the thick dust clouds producing new stars. The ultraviolet light of the luminous young stars ionizes the surrounding clouds and makes them glow red in long-exposure images.

This is a starless image of the nebulosity that comprises the Cone Nebula region, taken only with Hα emissions (see below for more explanation). This creates an incredible black-and-white image of this region of space. 

This photograph was stacked with 135 Hα images taken over five nights from my Bortle 8 urban skies in my backyard in Phoenix, Arizona.

NOTE:

The majority of photographs of nebula are in a false color palette. False-color photographs of nebulae are essentially color (RGB) photographs whose color channels have been mapped to specific emission lines. In these images, each color can represent a specific element. In other words, a false-color image of a nebula tells us exactly what it’s made of. There are many emission lines, but the three most photographed by astronomers are hydrogen-alpha, oxygen-III and sulfur-II. These emission lines are captured by using narrowband filters which only let through the light at very specific wavelengths, typically most of my photographs are taken with filters allowing a bandwidth of 3µm.

Mapping Hα, O-III and S-II to red, green and blue is problematic when two of them are red, one is blue/green, and none is pure blue. Astronomers deal with this by using false color — one or more of these elements is going to have to take a hit for the team and take on an unnatural hue. The Hubble palette assigns red to S-II, green to Hα, and blue to O-III: red is accurate, green and blue are false. This photograph is taken using just the Hα wavelength, providing a spectacular black-and-white image of the nebulosity.