It’s Christmastime in the cosmos

For astronomers peering into the depths of the universe, Christmas came a little early this year.

Using data from the James Webb Space Telescope, NASA released an image last month of a Christmas Tree Galaxy Cluster, a winking collection of galaxies 4.3 billion light-years from Earth. And last week, an image of Cassiopeia A, the remains of a star that exploded 340 years ago, was also unveiled by the first lady, Jill Biden, as part of a new White House advent calendar.

These images and others follow a tradition of astronomers and other stargazers connecting the season of light with cosmic phenomena occurring light-years from Earth. But there is scientific wonder involved in some of these observations.

Underlying the Christmas Tree Galaxy Cluster was a detection by astronomers of 14 stars that flicker over days or months - like the lights on a Christmas tree.

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