Astronomy Picture of the Day

   [1]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.

                               2023 August 28
      [2]A nebula that appears blue in the middle and is surrounded by
    red-glowing gas is featured. Dramatic lanes of dark dust cut through
   the nebula's left side. A group of stars is visible toward the nebula's
      center. Please see the explanation for more detailed information.

                     Star Formation in the Pacman Nebula
                  Image Credit & Copyright: [3]Craig Stocks

   Explanation: Look through the cosmic cloud cataloged as NGC 281 and you
   might miss the stars of open cluster [4]IC 1590. Formed [5]within the
   nebula, that cluster's young, massive stars ultimately power the
   pervasive nebular glow. The eye-catching shapes looming in the featured
   portrait of NGC 281 are sculpted dusty columns and dense [6]Bok
   globules seen in silhouette, eroded by intense, energetic winds and
   [7]radiation from the hot cluster stars. If they survive long enough,
   the dusty structures could also be sites of future star formation.
   [8]Playfully called the Pacman Nebula because of its overall shape, NGC
   281 is about 10,000 light-years away in the constellation
   [9]Cassiopeia. This sharp composite image was made through
   [10]narrow-band filters. It combines emission from the nebula's
   hydrogen and oxygen atoms to [11]synthesize red, green, and blue
   colors. The scene spans well over 80 [12]light-years at the estimated
   distance of [13]NGC 281.

                       Tomorrow's picture: spiral webb
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    Authors & editors: [25]Robert Nemiroff ([26]MTU) & [27]Jerry Bonnell
                                 ([28]UMCP)
          NASA Official: Phillip Newman [29]Specific rights apply.
              [30]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices
                A service of: [31]ASD at [32]NASA / [33]GSFC,
                         [34]NASA Science Activation
                           & [35]Michigan Tech. U.

References

   1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
   2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2308/Pacman_Stocks_2560.jpg
   3. https://www.facebook.com/craigstocksphotography/
   4. https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1997AJ....113.2116G/abstract
   5. https://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2007/ngc281/
   6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bok_globule
   7. https://science.nasa.gov/ems/10_ultravioletwaves
   8. http://www.google.com/pacman/
   9. http://www.hawastsoc.org/deepsky/cas/
  10. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap071102.html
  11. https://hubblesite.org/contents/articles/the-meaning-of-light-and-color
  12. https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/light-year/en/
  13. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC_281
  14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230827.html
  15. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
  16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html
  17. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html
  18. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html
  20. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss
  21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html
  22. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html
  23. https://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=230828
  24. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230829.html
  25. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  26. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  27. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  28. http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  29. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  30. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  31. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  32. https://www.nasa.gov/
  33. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  34. https://science.nasa.gov/learners
  35. http://www.mtu.edu/