These four images, each combining X-rays from Chandra and data from other telescopes, all have some connection to the winter season — either in shape or name. NGC 4782 and NGC 4783 are a pair of colliding galaxies that resemble a snowman when oriented in a certain way. NGC 2264 is a relatively young nebula where new stars are forming that looks like a Christmas tree. The winter-like vista is NGC 6357 that contains Pismis 24, a young cluster of stars. Finally, M78 is a reflection nebula in the Orion constellation that some people say has the shape of a partridge.

NGC 4782 and NGC 4783, a pair of colliding galaxies when oriented in a certain way resembles a snowman. The top and bottom of the snowman are each elliptical galaxies, separated by a distance of about 170 million light-years. The galaxies, seen in an image from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope (gray), are bound together through gravity. X-rays from Chandra (purple) show a bridge of hot gas between the two galaxies, like a winter scarf.

One of the most iconic symbols of the season, a Christmas tree. This celestial version takes an optical light image (red, gold, blue, and white) from an astrophotographer that shows the “branches” of NGC 2264, a relatively young nebula where new stars are forming. Within this cloud of gas and dust, baby stars appear as high-energy baubles in X-ray light from Chandra (red, green, and blue) plus some additional X-ray data from ESA’s XMM-Newton.

Nebula NGC 6357 that contains Pismis 24, a young cluster of stars about 5,500 light-years from Earth. This stellar landscape is reminiscent of a winter vista in a view from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (red, green, and blue). Chandra data (red, green and blue) punctuate the scene with bursts of colored lights representing high-energy activity from the active stars.

M78, a striking nebula in the Orion constellation that may also bring a partridge in the proverbial pear tree to mind. M78 is a reflection nebula, which is cloud interstellar dust that glows from the scattered light embedded within it. The bird-like structure is seen in infrared and optical light by Euclid (red, green and blue) while Chandra data provide speckled lights across the nebula (red, green, and blue).

This plate features a pair of colliding galaxies that resemble a snowman in optical light from Hubble when oriented vertically. The two galaxies, NGC 4782 and NGC 4783, appear as hazy balls with solid cores, one stacked above the other. Linking the two galaxies is a bridge of hot gas in X-ray light from Chandra depicted here as a string gas, loosely zigzagging back and forth between the two galaxies, like a cozy scarf worn by a snowman.

The second plate strongly resembles a Christmas tree bedecked with twinkling lights. The tree is actually NGC 2264, a relatively young nebula where new stars are forming. The tree’s branches, which sweep back and forth in a roughly conical shape, are clouds of dust and gas, all from optical light captured by astrophotographer B. Vuk. Tucked into these branches are specks representing lights and baubles in X-rays from Chandra and XMM-Newton; baby stars growing inside the nebula.

The third plate depicts a winter scene fit for a holiday greeting card. Above what appears to be a snowy mountainscape, is a clear sky packed with colorful lights. The ridged mountainscape is in fact part of the nebula NGC 6357, as captured by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. The speckling of lights in the sky above are bursts of high-energy X-rays from active stars, detected by Chandra.

The final plate is a nebula which calls to mind the first gift in the Christmas carol ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’. Here, the wispy nebula, M78, forms a tree, with a vertical trunk near the center of the image in infrared and optical light from the European Space Agency’s Euclid mission. The tree’s bushy branches reach toward our upper left, and its tail of roots drifts toward our lower right. The tree of interstellar dust is offset by a faint cloud, which is shaped like cotton candy, and is backed by a sky packed with speckled lights. At the top of the tree, near the upper lefthand corner of the image, is a dusty cloud shape which strongly resembles a bird in profile, the proverbial partridge in the pear tree. Sprinkled across are tiny dots, showcasing X-rays captured by Chandra.