Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2023 August 28
A nebula that appears blue in the middle and is surrounded by
red-glowing gas is featured. Dramatic lanes of dark dust cut
through the nebula's left side. A group of stars is visible toward
the nebula's centre.
Please see the explanation for more detailed information.

Star Formation in the Pacman Nebula
Image Credit & Copyright: Craig Stocks

Explanation: Look through the cosmic cloud catalogued as NGC 281 and you might miss the stars of open cluster IC 1590. Formed within the nebula, that cluster's young, massive stars ultimately power the pervasive nebular glow. The eye-catching shapes looming in the featured portrait of NGC 281 are sculpted dusty columns and dense Bok 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 sharp composite image was made through narrow-band filters. It combines emission from the nebula's hydrogen and oxygen atoms to synthesize red, green, and blue colours. The scene spans well over 80 light-years at the estimated distance of NGC 281.

Tomorrow's picture: spiral webb


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