Explanation:
Look through the cosmic cloud cataloged as
NGC 281
and it's almost easy to miss stars of open cluster
IC 1590.
But, formed
within
the nebula, that cluster's young, massive stars
ultimately power the pervasive
nebular glow.
The eye-catching shapes looming in
this portrait
of NGC 281 are sculpted columns and dense
dust 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 composite image was made through
narrow-band filters,
but combines emission from the nebula's hydrogen, sulfur, and oxygen atoms
in a visible spectrum palette.
It spans
over 80 light-years at the estimated distance of NGC 281.
