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Credit & Copyright: Ken Crawford
(Rancho Del Sol Observatory)
Explanation:
Look through the cosmic cloud cataloged as
NGC 281
and it's almost easy to miss stars of the 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 colorful
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.
Sometimes called the Pacman Nebula because
of its overall shape in
wider-field
views, NGC 281 is about 10,000 light-years away in the constellation
Cassiopeia.
This composite image was made through
narrow-band filters
and shows emission from the nebula's hydrogen, sulfur, and oxygen atoms
in green, red, and blue hues.
It spans over 80 light-years at the estimated distance of NGC 281.
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: star formation - NGC 281
Publications with words: star formation - NGC 281
See also:
- NGC 1893 and the Tadpoles of IC 410
- Star Factory Messier 17
- APOD: 2023 August 28 Á Star Formation in the Pacman Nebula
- APOD: 2023 July 10 Á Stars, Dust and Nebula in NGC 6559
- NGC 1333: Stellar Nursery in Perseus
- APOD: 2023 March 21 Á Dark Nebulae and Star Formation in Taurus
- The Tadpole Nebula in Gas and Dust