Your living room isn't the only place housing a large green Christmas tree with sparkling lights this year. NASA has found a spot in space with its own glowing cosmic tree for the holiday season.

is also called the “Christmas Tree Cluster,” where a group of young stars surrounded by the gaseous cloud of a nebula call to mind a cosmic evergreen decorated with twinkling lights.

NGC 2264 — also known as the “Christmas Tree Cluster” since it looks like a cosmic tree with strings of glowing lights — can be found in the Milk Way, about 2,500 light-years from Earth.

These are often called world or cosmic trees. We mentioned the baobab tree in our episode on Yoruba folklore. This tree was said to be the home of the Orisha in their heavenly realm before Obatala ...

The cluster of young stars is known as the “Christmas Tree Cluster” and you can see why. It looks exactly like a cosmic Christmas Tree. By young, we’re talking between one and five million ...