Astronomy Picture of the Day -- Portrait of NGC 281

NASA ^ | August 25, 2011 | (see photo credit)

[SunkenCiv]

Explanation: Look through the cosmic cloud cataloged as NGC 281 and it's almost easy to miss stars of open cluster IC 1590. But, formed within the nebula, that cluster's young, massive stars ultimately power the pervasive nebular glow. The eye-catching shapes looming in this portrait of NGC 281 are sculpted columns and dense dust globules seen in silhouette, eroded by intense, energetic winds and radiation from the hot cluster stars. If they survive long enough, the dusty structures could also be sites of future star formation. Playfully called the Pacman Nebula because of its overall shape, NGC 281 is about 10,000 light-years away in the constellation Cassiopeia. This composite image was made through narrow-band filters, but combines emission from the nebula's hydrogen, sulfur, and oxygen atoms in a visible spectrum palette. It spans over 80 light-years at the estimated distance of NGC 281.

[SunkenCiv]

[Image Credit & Copyright: J-P Metsävainio (Astro Anarchy)]

[SunkenCiv]

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[ixtl]

Thanks for another wonderful image.

[momtothree]

Beautiful!

[Fester Chugabrew]

The Pacman Nebula.

[left that other site]

And the Hits Just Keep on Comin’!

Thanks, Civ!

[massgopguy]

and the Enterprise just came up behind the Reliant!

[JoeProBono]

[left that other site]

LOL!

How did you KNOW I was a Trekkie?

I mean a SERIOUS Trekkie...Grew up in the same neighborhood with Leonard Nimoy, in Dorchester, MA.

My little sis went to high school with Shatner’s fourth wife.(The one that died in the pool accident)

[colorado tanker]

There is such beauty in the universe . . .