NGC 281 (Pacman Nebula) - Full Image, Sept 2023 (Bob Schiff)

Celestial hemisphere: Northern · Constellation: Cassiopeia (Cas) · Contains: HD4647 · HD5005 · IC 1590 · LBN 615 · LBN 616 · NGC 281 · Sh2-184

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NGC 281 (Pacman Nebula) - Full Image, Sept 2023

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NGC 281 (Pacman Nebula) - Full Image, Sept 2023

NGC 281 is an emission nebula estimated at 9,200 light years from Earth and is found in the constellation Cassiopeia. It is often referred to as the Pacman Nebula due to its resemblance to the iconic video game character.

NGC 281 is fueled by the young open star cluster IC 1590 forming in the center of the nebula. The central region of the nebula is being shaped by the young stars’ powerful stellar winds. The blue emission is from ionized oxygen gas that remains in the region. The outer perimeter of NGC 281 is comprised mostly of hydrogen gas where the IC 1590 winds have “blown” and “ionized” this molecular gas. The rust-orange is the light emitted by the ionized hydrogen. I have also published a cropped version of this image showing the nebula interior in more detail.

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Distribution of astrophotographers

This table shows the number of distinct astrophotographers who have been assigned and IOTD/TP award compared to the total number of images awarded.
	Distinct awarded users	Total awarded images
Image of the day
Top picks
Top pick nominations

Distribution of subject types

This table shows the distribution of awards per subject type, compared to the popularity of images of that subject type.
	Image of the day	Top pick	Top pick nominations	Total submitted
Deep sky
Solar system
Extremely wide field
Star trails
Northern lights
Noctilucent clouds
Landscape

Distribution of data sources

This table shows the distribution of awards per data source, compared to the popularity of images acquired from that data source.
	Image of the day	Top pick	Top pick nominations	Total submitted
Backyard
Traveller
Own remote observatory
Amateur hosting facility
Public amaeteur data
Professional, scientific grade data
Mix of multiple sources
Other
Unknown

The “AstroBin Image of the Day and Top Picks”, or IOTD/TP, is a long-running system to promote beautiful, interesting, peculiar, or otherwise amazing astrophotographs, with a focus on technical excellence. Learn more.

Submitted The date and time when you submitted this image for IOTD/TP consideration.	...
Views by Submitters (available since September 19th, 2023) Every image is assigned to 50% of available Submitters. In the event that at least 80% of them don't view the image before its time in the IOTD/TP process expires, it's assigned to the other 50% of Submitters and the process begins anew.
Promotions by Submitters When 3 distinct Submitters promote the image, it moves on to the next stage of the process: evaluation for Top Pick status. This requirement, in addition to anonymization of images and distribution to only a subset of them, prevents biases and ensures that the best images are selected.
Promotions by Reviewers When 3 distinct Reviewers promote the image, it moves on to the next stage of the process: evaluation for IOTD status.
Early dismissal Staff members have a lot of images to inspect on a daily basis, and they can dismiss images if they believe they don't meet the requirements for IOTD/TP selection. If an image is dismissed 5 times, it's removed from the process. This streamlines the process and ensures that any bias present in promotions could be overruled by other staff members.

Status	Advanced success
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	9228207
PixInsight job	EOWOXJ794JQXRG3MNVW10E68UPVKVHAC
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	TASK_LOG

RA (center)	00h52m26s.379
RA (top/left)	00h56m17s.546
RA (top/right)	00h49m15s.238
RA (bottom/right)	00h48m39s.124
RA (bottom/left)	00h55m33s.840

Dec (center)	+56°41′36″.50
Dec (top/left)	+57°00′52″.46
Dec (top/right)	+57°07′52″.60
Dec (bottom/right)	+56°21′53″.93
Dec (bottom/left)	+56°15′01″.66

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NGC 281 (Pacman Nebula) - Full Image, Sept 2023

NGC 281 (Pacman Nebula) - Full Image, Sept 2023

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NGC 281 (Pacman Nebula) - Full Image, Sept 2023

NGC 281 (Pacman Nebula) - Full Image, Sept 2023

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