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Rolf's Astrophotography
  • An Astrophotography Journey!
  • Clusters
    • Globular Clusters
      • M13 – Hercules Cluster
      • M15 – Great Pegasus Cluster
      • M2
      • M3
      • M56
      • M92
      • NGC 6934
      • NGC 7006
    • Open Clusters
      • IC 348
      • M34
      • M35 and NGC 2158
      • M39
      • M45 – The Pleiades
      • M52
      • NGC 869 and NGC 884 – Perseus Double Cluster
  • Galaxies
    • Elliptical Galaxies
      • Galaxy Cluster ACO 262
      • Galaxy Cluster ACO 347
      • Galaxy Cluster ACO 426
      • Leo I (UGC 5470, PGC 29488, MCG)
      • M105, NGC 3384, and NGC 3389
      • NGC 4125 and NGC 4121
      • M87 – Virgo A
      • Markarian’s Chain with M84, M86, and M87
      • NGC 1272, NGC 1275 – The Perseus Cluster
      • NGC 3613, NGC 3619, and NGC 3625
      • NGC 3998
      • NGC 4889 and other galaxies in Coma Berenices
      • PGC 2641182
    • Irregular Galaxies
      • M82 – Cigar Galaxy
      • NGC 2366 and NGC 2363
      • NGC 4449
    • Spiral Galaxies
      • IC 2574 – Coddington’s Nebula
      • M95
      • NGC 3198
      • NGC 3614
      • NGC 3945, NGC 3975, and NGC 3978
      • NGC 4041 and NGC 4036
      • IC 342
      • M100
      • M101 – Pinwheel Galaxy
      • M102 – Spindle Galaxy
      • M106
      • M108
      • M109
      • M31 – Andromeda Galaxy
      • M33 – Triangulum Galaxy
      • M51 – Whirlpool Galaxy
      • M63 – Sunflower Galaxy
      • M64 – Black Eye Galaxy
      • M65, M66, and NGC 3628 – The Leo Triplet
      • M81 – Bode’s Galaxy
      • M94
      • M96
      • NGC 2403
      • NGC 2683 – UFO Galaxy
      • NGC 2775
      • NGC 2841
      • NGC 3184
      • NGC 3642
      • NGC 4236
      • NGC 4244 – Silver Needle Galaxy
      • NGC 4490 – Cocoon Galaxy
      • NGC 4559
      • NGC 4565 (C38) – Needle Galaxy
      • NGC 4631 (Whale Galaxy) and NGC 4656
      • NGC 5005
      • NGC 5216, NGC 5218 – Keenan’s System
      • NGC 5907 – Knife Edge Galaxy
      • NGC 6946 – Fireworks Galaxy
      • NGC 7331
      • NGC 891 – Silver Galaxy
      • NGC 925 – Amatha Galaxy
    • The Milky Way
  • Nebulas
    • Dark Nebulas
      • IC 434 – Horsehead Nebula
      • NGC 2264 – Cone Nebula and Christmas Tree Cluster
    • Emission Nebulas
      • Sh 2-261 – Lower’s Nebula
      • IC 1396 – Elephant’s Trunk Nebula
      • IC 1805 – Heart Nebula
      • IC 1848 – Soul Nebula
      • IC 2177 – Seagull Nebula
      • IC 405 – Flaming Star Nebula
      • IC 5070 – Pelican Nebula
      • IC 5146 – Cocoon Nebula
      • IC 59 and IC 63 – Gamma Cassiopeia Nebula
      • M42 – Orion Nebula
      • NGC 1491
      • NGC 1499 – California Nebula
      • NGC 1931 and IC 417
      • NGC 2174 – Monkey Head Nebula
      • NGC 2237 – Rosette Nebula
      • NGC 2359 – Thor’s Helmet
      • NGC 281 – Pacman Nebula
      • NGC 6888 – Crescent Nebula
      • NGC 7000 – North America Nebula
      • NGC 7635 – Bubble Nebula
      • NGC 7822
      • NGC 896
      • Sadr and the Gamma Cygni Nebula (IC 1318)
      • Sh 2-155 – Cave Nebula
    • Planetary Nebulas
      • Sh 2-290 (ACO 31)
      • Abell 21 – Medusa Nebula
      • Jones-Emberson 1 Nebula
      • M27 – Dumbbell Nebula
      • M57 – Ring Nebula
      • M76 – Little Dumbbell Nebula
      • M97 – Owl Nebula
      • NGC 1501
      • NGC 40 – Bow Tie Nebula
      • NGC 6543 – Cat’s Eye Nebula
      • NGC 6826 – Blinking Planetary
      • NGC 7662 – Snowball Nebula
    • Reflection Nebulas
      • NGC 1977 – Running Man Nebula
      • IC 2118 – Witch Head Nebula
      • M78
      • NGC 7023 – Iris Nebula
    • Supernova Remnants
      • IC 443 – Jellyfish Nebula
      • M1 – Crab Nebula
      • NGC 6960 – Veil Nebula
  • Solar System
    • Comets
      • Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS (C2023 A3)
    • The Moon
    • Jupiter
    • Mars
    • Saturn
  • The Gear
    • APO107 Configuration Example
    • APO94 Configuration Example
    • AstroTrac TT320X and Nikon D800 DSLR Configuration Example
    • MN190 Configuration Example
    • RC8″ Configuration Example
    • Skywatcher EQ6-R Pro Equatorial Mount
Rolf's Astrophotography

NGC 281 – Pacman Nebula

The Pacman Nebula (NGC 281) is a large emission nebula appearing near the orange giant Schedar in the constellation Cassiopeia. The nebula lies approximately 9,200 light years away and occupies 35 arcminutes of the apparent sky. It is also catalogued as IC 11 and Sharpless 184 (Sh2-184). It was named the Pacman Nebula for its resemblance to Pac-Man, the character in the popular 1980s maze video game. In optical images, a dark dust lane forms the Pac-Man’s mouth.

The Pacman Nebula 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 (Collinder 8), a young open cluster with an estimated age of 3.5 million years. The main sequence stars in the cluster are luminous blue stars of the spectral types O6.5 to B9.5. The spectral types of the pre-main sequence stars range from A8/9 to G8. The cluster has an apparent magnitude of 7.4. It contains 279 stars of magnitude 17 or brighter, including the multiple star system responsible for ionizing the gas in the nebula and making it glow. The O-type system lies near the centre of the nebula.

NGC 281, Pacman Nebula
NGC 281, Pacman Nebula
NGC 281, IC 11 or Sh2-184 is a bright emission nebula and part of an H II region in the northern constellation of Cassiopeia and is part of the Milky Way’s Perseus Spiral Arm. This 20×30 arcmin sized nebulosity is also associated with open cluster IC 1590, several Bok globules and the multiple star, B 1. A recent distance from radio parallaxes of water masers at 22 GHz made during 2014 is estimated it lies 2.82±0.20 kpc. (9200 ly.) from us. Colloquially, NGC 281 is also known as the Pacman Nebula for its resemblance to the video game character. Photographed with APO 107mm refractor telescope and Atik 360EX CCD camera in Åva, October 2018.
NGC 281 Pacman Nebula
NGC 281 Pacman Nebula
NGC 281, IC 11 or Sh2-184 is a bright emission nebula and part of an H II region in the northern constellation of Cassiopeia and is part of the Milky Way’s Perseus Spiral Arm. This 20×30 arcmin sized nebulosity is also associated with open cluster IC 1590, several Bok globules and the multiple star, B 1. It collectively forms Sh2-184, spanning over a larger area of 40 arcmin. A recent distance from radio parallaxes of water masers at 22 GHz made during 2014 is estimated it lies 2.82±0.20 kpc. (9200 ly.) from us. Colloquially, NGC 281 is also known as the Pacman Nebula for its resemblance to the video game character. Photographed with APO 107mm refractor telescope and Nikon D800 DSLR camera in Åva, September 2020. Exposure was 10*3min at ISO800 in bright moonshine. Post-processed in Pixinsight to enhance the nebulosity.
NGC 281 Pacman nebula
NGC 281 Pacman nebula
NGC 281 is a bright emission nebula and part of an H II region in the northern constellation of Cassiopeia and is part of the Milky Way’s Perseus Spiral Arm. This 20×30 arcmin sized nebulosity is also associated with open cluster IC 1590, several Bok globules and the multiple star, B 1. It collectively forms Sh2-184, spanning over a larger area of 40 arcmin. A recent distance from radio parallaxes of water masers at 22 GHz made during 2014 is estimated it lies 2.82±0.20 kpc. (9200 ly.) from us. Colloquially, NGC 281 is also known as the Pacman Nebula for its resemblance to the video game character. Photographed with APO107mm refractor telescope and ASI 2600MC color camera in Stuvsta, September 2021. Exposure was 16*3min with IDAS LPS D2 light pollution filter.
NGC 281 Pacman nebula
NGC 281 Pacman nebula
NGC 281 is a bright emission nebula and part of an H II region in the northern constellation of Cassiopeia and is part of the Milky Way’s Perseus Spiral Arm. This 20×30 arcmin sized nebulosity is also associated with open cluster IC 1590, several Bok globules and the multiple star, B 1. It collectively forms Sh2-184, spanning over a larger area of 40 arcmin. A recent distance from radio parallaxes of water masers at 22 GHz made during 2014 is estimated it lies 2.82±0.20 kpc. (9200 ly.) from us. Colloquially, NGC 281 is also known as the Pacman Nebula for its resemblance to the video game character. Photographed with APO107mm refractor telescope and ASI 2600MC color camera in Stuvsta, September 2021. Exposure was 16*3min with IDAS LPS D2 light pollution filter.
NGC 281 Pacman nebula
NGC 281 Pacman nebula
The Pacman Nebula (NGC 281) is a large emission nebula appearing near the orange giant Schedar in the constellation Cassiopeia. The nebula lies approximately 9,200 light years away and occupies 35 arcminutes of the apparent sky. It is also catalogued as IC 11 and Sharpless 184 (Sh2-184). It was named the Pacman Nebula for its resemblance to Pac-Man, the character in the popular 1980s maze video game. In optical images, a dark dust lane forms the Pac-Man’s mouth. The Pacman Nebula 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 (Collinder 8), a young open cluster with an estimated age of 3.5 million years. The main sequence stars in the cluster are luminous blue stars of the spectral types O6.5 to B9.5. The spectral types of the pre-main sequence stars range from A8/9 to G8. The cluster has an apparent magnitude of 7.4. It contains 279 stars of magnitude 17 or brighter, including the multiple star system responsible for ionizing the gas in the nebula and making it glow. The O-type system lies near the centre of the nebula. Photographed with APO107mm refractor telescope and ASI 2600MC color camera in Stuvsta, November 2021. Exposure was 30*4min with L-eXtreme narrowband filter.
NGC 281, Pacman Nebula
NGC 281, Pacman Nebula
Photographed with the APO 107 mm refractor telescope and the ASI 2600MC color CMOS camera in Stuvsta, November 23rd, 2024. Exposure was 30 * 2 min with IDAS LPS P3 filter. No Moon, but very poor seeing duing to a low temperature of -8 centigrades and high humidity.
NGC 281, Pacman Nebula
NGC 281, Pacman Nebula
Photographed with the APO 107 mm refractor telescope and the ASI 2600MC color CMOS camera in Stuvsta, November 23rd, 2024. Exposure was 30 * 2 min with IDAS LPS P3 filter. No Moon, but very poor seeing duing to a low temperature of -8 centigrades and high humidity.
NGC 281, Pacman Nebula
NGC 281, Pacman Nebula
Photographed with the APO 94 mm refractor telescope and ASI 2600MC CMOS color camera in Stuvsta, October 11th 2024. This was the first time I used the new AM5 mount from ZWO ASI. Exposure was 29 * 3 min with IDAS LPS D2 light pollution filter. Postprocessing in Pixinsight.
NGC 281, Pacman Nebula
NGC 281, Pacman Nebula
Photographed with the APO 94 mm refractor telescope and ASI 2600MC CMOS color camera in Stuvsta, October 11th 2024. This was the first time I used the new AM5 mount from ZWO ASI. Exposure was 29 * 3 min with IDAS LPS D2 light pollution filter. Postprocessing in Pixinsight.
NGC 281, Pacman Nebula
NGC 281, Pacman Nebula
Photograpphed with the MN190 reflector telescope and the Atik 360EX monochrome camera in Stuvsta, Jan 12th, 2025. Exposure was 20 min each of RGB, 40 min Ha, and 40 min Lum. This was the firt time I used an Off Axis Guider (OAG) with the MN190 telescope. Postprocesssed in Pixinsight and Photoshop.
NGC 281, Pacman Nebula
NGC 281, Pacman Nebula
Photograpphed with the MN190 reflector telescope and the Atik 360EX monochrome camera in Stuvsta, Jan 12th, 2025. Exposure was 20 min each of RGB, 40 min Ha, and 40 min Lum. This was the firt time I used an Off Axis Guider (OAG) with the MN190 telescope. Postprocesssed in Pixinsight and Photoshop.
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