4 subs RGB+Ha (HEUIB-II IDAS filter)
28 subs High Band Only Ha, Hb, OIII, Na (Triad Ultra)

The Pacman nebula (NGC281) shows all the effects of supernovas quite dramatically!

On such a clear night, I was able to get extra close to this favorite target.

We're looking inside of the nova in much the same way we look inside a translucent balloon. Ionized red hydrogen expands outward. There are chimney-like columns where the gas had to move aound denser objects. Dark non-glowing matter scatters like shrapnel, and there's that exceptionally expressive patch of dark clouds.

The cluster of stars in the center reveal ground zero. This is where an older star ran out of fuel, collapsed on itself, and violently exploded. Some of the densest ejected material almost instantly ignited, forming this group of bright, new stars.

Pacman is located over 9000 light years away in Perseus, an adjoining sprial in our own Milky Way. It's thought the original supernova occured 3.5 million years ago. While looking small from Earth, the nebula is actually 48 light years across.

NGC281 was discovered in 1881 by Edward Emerson Barnard. He instantly noted the nebula's simularity to his favorite arcade game and named it Pacman, much to the delight of his wife, Rhoda Calvert.

Actually this is not true. Ed much preferred Space Invaders.

Again...a deception, as the USA was just starting to be electrified and the first computerized arcade game was still 91 years away. The informal "Pacman" moniker wasn't assigned to the nebula until the 1980s.

Basically, Barnard found the nebula, described it, and added it to his catalog. That's about it. Ed was a very busy guy, publishing 900 papers on his discoveries and theories. He made more than 5000 photographic plates of comets and the Milky Way...which pretty amazing when you consider the complexity of photography's chemical processes of the time.

In contrast to the explosive look of NGC281, I'm listening to a very calming tune tonight by the Tord Gustavsen Quartet called Intuition.