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NGC 281: Living the High Life
NGC 281
NGC 281
Visual Description:

  • NGC 281 is a relatively nearby cloud of gas and dust that lies high above the plane of the Milky Way galaxy.

  • Its location makes NGC 281 a good target for astronomers who want to study "high-mass" stars.

  • High-mass stars are those that contain 8 times the Sun's mass or more.

  • These stars play an important role in galaxies, but are generally poorly understood because they are hard to observe.

High-mass stars are important because they are responsible for much of the energy pumped into our galaxy over its lifetime. Unfortunately, these stars are poorly understood because they are often found relatively far away and can be obscured by gas and dust. The star cluster NGC 281 is an exception to this rule. It is located about 9,200 light years from Earth and, remarkably, almost 1,000 light years above the plane of the Galaxy, giving astronomers a nearly unfettered view of the star formation within it.

Milky Way
NGC 281 in relation to the Milky Way plane.
Milky Way image by Nick Risinger, skysurvey.org

This composite image of NGC 281 contains X-ray data from Chandra (purple) with infrared observations from Spitzer (red, green, blue). The high-mass stars in NGC 281 drive many aspects of their galactic environment through powerful winds flowing from their surfaces and intense radiation that heats surrounding gas, "boiling it away" into interstellar space. This process results in the formation of large columns of gas and dust, as seen on the left side of the image. These structures likely contain newly forming stars. The eventual deaths of massive stars as supernovas will also seed the galaxy with material and energy.

NGC 281 is known informally as the "Pacman Nebula" because of its appearance in optical images. In optical images the "mouth" of the Pacman character appears dark because of obscuration by dust and gas, but in the infrared Spitzer image the dust in this region glows brightly.

Visual Description:

This image shows an X-ray and infrared view of the star cluster NGC 281. The nebula appears as a colorful, swirling mass of gas and dust, with various shades of purple, pink, green, and grey. The textures of the nebula resemble bits of jagged fog sprinkled liberally with bright glowing purple jewels clustered towards the upper center, with streaks of red light glowing softly behind them. This image includes X-ray data from Chandra (colored in purple) with infrared observations from Spitzer (red, green, and blue). The high-mass stars in NGC 281 influence many aspects of their galactic environment through powerful winds flowing from their surfaces and intense radiation that heats surrounding gas, "boiling it away" into interstellar space. This process results in the formation of large columns of gas and dust, as seen on the left side of the image. These structures likely contain newly forming stars. The eventual deaths of massive stars as supernovas will also seed the galaxy with material and energy. NGC 281 is known informally as the "Pacman Nebula" because of its appearance in optical images. In optical images the "mouth" of the Pacman character appears dark because of obscuration by dust and gas, but in the infrared Spitzer image the dust in this region glows brightly.

 

Fast Facts for NGC 281:
Credit  X-ray: NASA/CXC/CfA/S.Wolk; IR: NASA/JPL/CfA/S.Wolk
Release Date  September 28, 2011
Scale  Image is about 18 arcmin across (about 48 light years)
Category  Normal Stars & Star Clusters
Coordinates (J2000)  RA 00h 52m 59.35s | Dec +56° 37' 18.8"
Constellation  Cassiopeia
Observation Date  3 pointings from 11/10/05-11/12/05
Observation Time  27 hours 30 min
Obs. ID  5424, 7205-7206
Instrument  ACIS
Color Code  X-ray (Purple); Infrared (Red, Green, Blue)
IR
X-ray
Distance Estimate  About 9,200 light years
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