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, 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, 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 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 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
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
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
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.
