The Pacman Nebula, NGC 281, is a bright cloud of glowing hydrogen in Cassiopeia. A dark lane of dust bites into one side of the cloud, and that notch is what gives the nebula the open mouth of the arcade character. This frame, NGC 281 Pac-Man, was made on 23 September 2026.
It lies in the Milky Way’s Perseus Arm, about 9,200 light-years away. On the sky it covers roughly 35 by 30 arcminutes, about the width of the full Moon, and the cloud itself stretches nearly 100 light-years across. Ultraviolet light from the young open cluster IC 1590 — above all the hot O-type star HD 5005 — ionizes the gas and makes it shine. Small, dense Bok globules stand out as black knots where new stars are still gathering inside the dust.
Edward Emerson Barnard found the nebula in August 1883 and described it as a large, faint, very diffuse glow. The same object is also catalogued as IC 11, Sharpless 2-184, and LBN 616.
Facts
- Emission nebula and H II region in Cassiopeia (NGC 281, Sh2-184)
- About 9,200 light-years away, in the Milky Way’s Perseus Arm
- Nearly 100 light-years across; 35′ × 30′ on the sky
- Lit by the young cluster IC 1590 and the O-type star HD 5005
- Bok globules and a dark dust lane form the Pac-Man “mouth”
- Discovered by E. E. Barnard in August 1883
