AstronomyPicture of the Day—20181124

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.

2018 November 24

Portraitof NGC 281

ImageCredit & Copyright: Jeremiah Roth

Explanation:Look through the cosmic cloud cataloged as NGC 281 and you might miss the starsof open cluster IC 1590. Still, formed within the nebula that cluster's young,massive stars ultimately power the pervasive nebular glow. The eye-catchingshapes looming in this portrait of NGC 281 are sculpted dusty columns and denseBok globules seen in silhouette, eroded by intense, energetic winds andradiation from the hot cluster stars. If they survive long enough, the dustystructures could also be sites of future star formation. Playfully called thePacman Nebula because of its overall shape, NGC 281 is about 10,000 light-yearsaway in the constellation Cassiopeia. This sharp composite image was madethrough narrow-band filters. It combines emission from the nebula's hydrogenand oxygen atoms to synthesize red, green, and blue colors. The scene spanswell over 80 light-years at the estimated distance of NGC 281.