NGC 281

NGC 281, known as the Pacman Nebula (named after its resemblance to the Pac-man character in the popular 1980’s video game), is a large emission nebula in the constellation Cassiopeia. It is approx. 9,200 light years from Earth and stretches 48 light years across.

It is a star-forming region that contains young stars, large dark dust lanes and Bok globules. Bok globules are small, dense dark nebulae packed with material from which new stars are formed. The dark dust lane spreads unevenly across glowing clouds of hydrogen and its appearance suggests that it being sculpted by a massive star in the background, concealed by the dark clouds.

NGC 281 is associated with IC 1590, a young open cluster with an estimated age of 3.5 million years. The cluster includes the multiple star system, HD 5005, responsible for ionising the gas of the nebula and making it glow - visible middle right of the image.