Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Cassiopeia (Cas)  ·  Contains:  IC 1590  ·  LBN 615  ·  LBN 616  ·  NGC 281  ·  Sh2-184
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NGC 281, the Pacman Nebula, Charles Pevsner
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NGC 281, the Pacman Nebula

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NGC 281, the Pacman Nebula, Charles Pevsner
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NGC 281, the Pacman Nebula

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Description

The nebula NGC 281 is the result of an open star cluster with high-mass stars (IC 1590), whose extreme stellar winds ionize the surrounding gas, resulting in a beautiful glow. A darker region of cooler gas and dust forms the “mouth” of the Pacman. This nebula is about 9,200 light years away, and, unusually for most deep sky objects near us, lies almost 1,000 light years above the plane of the galaxy.


I suppose I could rotate this image counter-clockwise 45° so that it has the correct orientation for a Pacman, but then I don’t think this nebula looks much like a Pacman anyway.

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NGC 281, the Pacman Nebula, Charles Pevsner