Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Cassiopeia (Cas)  ·  Contains:  18 Cas)  ·  18 alf Cas  ·  24 Cas)  ·  24 eta Cas  ·  26 Cas  ·  26 ups01 Cas  ·  27 Cas)  ·  27 gam Cas  ·  28 Cas)  ·  28 ups02 Cas  ·  34 Cas  ·  34 phi Cas  ·  Achird  ·  Cassiopeia  ·  HD1070  ·  HD1128  ·  HD1264  ·  HD1334  ·  HD1457  ·  HD1486  ·  HD1535  ·  HD1536  ·  HD1545  ·  HD1845  ·  HD1917  ·  HD1950  ·  HD1993  ·  HD2152  ·  HD2170  ·  HD2244  ·  And 194 more.
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Wide field in Cassiopea, framoro
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Wide field in Cassiopea

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Wide field in Cassiopea, framoro
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Wide field in Cassiopea

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Description

Beautiful wide field in the northern region of the constellation of Cassiopea with some interesting DSO: the Pacman Nebula (NGC 281 or Sh2-184), the Ghosts of Cassiopea (IC63 & IC59 or Sh2-185) and the Owl cluster (NGC 457).
The Pacman Nebula is a bright emission nebula and part of an H II region in the Perseus Arm of our galaxy. It is also associated with open cluster IC 1590 and several Bok globules. It collectively forms Sh2-184, and it is estimated to lie at around 9200 LY from the Solar System.
IC59 and IC63 are two emission nebulae in the constellation Cassiopeia (https://www.astrobin.com/0j4286/F/). They are about 615 LY away from our Solar System, located about half a degree to the northeast of γ Cassiopeiae, an irregular, very hot and young variable star with a radius 15 times our Sun, and 50,000 times brighter. IC59 and IC63 are collectively also known as Sharpless 2-185 (Sh2-185), they are visually distinguishable in their diversity of color and shape. The two nebulae are irradiated by the light emitted by γ Cassiopeiae, IC63 has a triangular shape, has optical emissions dominated by the red color, given by the ionized gas mixed with bluish filaments, further away from the star is IC59, with a shape similar to a bell and a bluish color. Both nebulae are slowly dissolving under the influence of the violent stellar wind emitted by γ Cassiopeiae.
NGC 457 (https://www.astrobin.com/full/jynq7q/0/) lies over 7,900 LY away from the Solar System. It has an estimated age of 21 million years. The cluster is sometimes referred as the Owl Cluster or the E.T. Cluster (due to its resemblance to the movie character). Two bright stars Phi Cassiopeiae (magnitude 5 and spectral type F0) and HD 7902 (magnitude 7) can be imagined as eyes. It is not yet clear if Phi Cassiopeiae is a member of the cluster, and if it is, then it would be one of the brightest stars known, surpassing Rigel in luminosity. The cluster features a rich field of about 150 stars of magnitudes 9-13. About 60 stars have been identified as true members of the cluster.

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