Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Cassiopeia (Cas)  ·  Contains:  NGC 281
NGC 281 in HSO, Antonio.Spinoza
NGC 281 in HSO
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NGC 281 in HSO

NGC 281 in HSO, Antonio.Spinoza
NGC 281 in HSO
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NGC 281 in HSO

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Description

NGC281, a bright emission nebula in Cassiopeia, is sometimes called the "Pacman Nebula". Apparently it's supposed to resemble the video game "character" (not much of a character - just a pie with a slice missing). I would rather nickname this image the "Mushroom Nebula", but I'll stick with NGC 281.

NGC 281 displays very bright OIII emissions and offers a nice target for narrowband imaging due to the nice contrast between Ha, OIII and SII emissions, all of which are fairly strong.

NGC 281 is thought to be about 10,000 light years away in the Perseus arm of our galaxy and is an active area of star formation. The hot open star cluster IC 1590 helps ionize the gas to make the nebula glow.

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  • NGC 281 in HSO, Antonio.Spinoza
    Original
  • Final
    NGC 281 in HSO, Antonio.Spinoza
    B

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NGC 281 in HSO, Antonio.Spinoza