Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Cassiopeia (Cas)  ·  Contains:  IC 1590  ·  NGC 281
Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
NGC 281 - The Pacman Nebula in SHO, David Wood (SDAA TARO)
NGC 281 - The Pacman Nebula in SHO
Powered byPixInsight

NGC 281 - The Pacman Nebula in SHO

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
NGC 281 - The Pacman Nebula in SHO, David Wood (SDAA TARO)
NGC 281 - The Pacman Nebula in SHO
Powered byPixInsight

NGC 281 - The Pacman Nebula in SHO

Equipment

Loading...

Acquisition details

Loading...

Description

The Pac-Man Nebula, also known as NGC 281, is an emission nebula located about 9,200 light-years away in the constellation Cassiopeia. It is a roughly 48 light-year wide cloud of gas and dust shaped by the strong stellar winds from a group of young, hot stars. The stars are members of the open star cluster IC 1590, which formed about 3.5 million years ago.

The Pac-Man Nebula gets its name from its distinctive shape, which resembles the video game character Pac-Man. The shape is created by the interaction of the stellar winds from the young stars in IC 1590 with the surrounding gas and dust. The stellar winds are blowing away the gas and dust, but they are also carving out channels through the material. These channels are what give the nebula its distinctive shape.

Comments

Sky plot

Sky plot

Histogram

NGC 281 - The Pacman Nebula in SHO, David Wood (SDAA TARO)

In these public groups

SDAA AISIG Group