An unpublished image of the universe has re-emerged from the astronomical archive of Ibiza. Astrophotographer @ommophotonatura has reprocessed in 2025 the data captured more than a decade ago from the Cala d’Hort telescope, revealing the Cone Nebula and the Christmas Tree star cluster with surprising sharpness.
The Agrupación Astronómica de Ibiza, which manages the observatory together with the Consell de Ibiza, has republished the image on its social networks, highlighting the scientific quality of the archive generated from the island.
“This image has about 40 hours of LHaRGB integration,” the author explained in his networks, where he regularly shares work from observatories around the world.
Young stars and cosmic dust over Cala d’Hort
The star cluster NGC 2264, located 2,700 light-years away in the constellation Monoceros, is an active star-forming region. The image clearly shows a dark nebula of cold molecular hydrogen, about ten light-years in length, and more than 600 young stars between one and four million years old.
The star S Monocerotis, the brightest star in the cluster, is responsible for ionizing the gas cloud that forms the conical structure, giving rise to this visual phenomenon of high astronomical impact.
The Cala d’Hort telescope, in the protected environment of ses Païsses, continues to provide valuable scientific material even a decade after its first captures.
A scientific jewel in the southwest of Ibiza
The Cala d’Hort Observatory, located in the protected environment of ses Païsses, is one of the most important astronomical observation points in the western Mediterranean. Its sky, far from light pollution, allows high-precision captures such as this one, which has been shared in the international scientific community through the AstroBin platform.
The initiative demonstrates how the Ibiza telescope’s scientific archive remains an active source of discovery, even a decade after the original capture.
