APOD: Stars and Dust in the Pacman Nebula (2024 Nov 18)

[APOD Robot]

Stars and Dust in the Pacman Nebula

Explanation: Stars can create huge and intricate dust sculptures from the dense and dark molecular clouds from which they are born. The tools the stars use to carve their detailed works are high energy light and fast stellar winds. The heat they generate evaporates the dark molecular dust as well as causing ambient hydrogen gas to disperse and glow. Pictured here, a new open cluster of stars designated IC 1590 is nearing completion around the intricate interstellar dust structures in the emission nebula NGC 281, dubbed the Pac-man Nebula because of its overall shape. The dust cloud just above center is classified as a Bok Globule as it may gravitationally collapse and form a star -- or stars. The Pacman Nebula lies about 10,000 light years away toward the constellation of Cassiopeia.

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[Ann]

The Bok globules look like a pair of fetus on long umbilical cords in a very large womb!

Click to view full size image

Stars and Dust in the Pacman Nebula. Image Credit & Copyright: Malcolm Loro

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Of course, you have to wonder what all those pillars along the rim of the womb are doing there - as if they were nosy onlookers like the hattifatteners in the Moomin world!

Hattifatteners. Credit: I don't know.

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Well, those pillars are really ubiquitous, whether they are hattifatteners or not!

In any case, the Pacman Nebula is a site of starbirth, so it is a kind of cosmic womb. Whether the Bok globules will give birth to stars is another matter. Maybe they will, maybe they won't. They look low mass to me.

You have given birth to a runt, Mrs. Pac! Credit: Joe Wilder MD

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On the other hand, Mrs. Pac: The big boy of your brood, HD 5005, is by all accounts a whopper! And he's got many other rascals in tow!

They are rascals! Credit: I don't know.

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O5.5 type star HD 5005 is in there somewhere, along with his rambunctious star buddies. Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/CfA/S.Wolk; IR: NASA/JPL/CfA/S.Wolk

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Ann

[Bird_Man]

I wonder what the night sky would look like if we were on a planet within the Pac-Man Nebula?

[Chris Peterson]

I wonder what the night sky would look like if we were on a planet within the Pac-Man Nebula?

Probably similar to our own. The nebula would be invisible, so you'd just see stars. There would be a few really bright ones.

[harrystyles]

Stars are born from dense molecular clouds, which provide the raw materials for their creation. As stars form, they emit high-energy light and fast stellar winds that shape the surrounding dust, creating intricate structures. The energy produced by stars heats the surrounding gas and dust, causing it to evaporate and glow, which enhances the visibility of these structures.

[Matthew23]

Stars and Dust in the Pacman Nebula

Explanation: Stars can create huge and intricate dust sculptures from the dense and dark molecular clouds from which they are born. The tools the stars use to carve their detailed works are high energy light and fast stellar winds. The heat they generate evaporates the dark molecular dust as well as causing ambient hydrogen gas to disperse and glow. Pictured here, a new open cluster of stars designated IC 1590 is nearing completion around the intricate interstellar dust structures in the emission nebula NGC 281, dubbed the Pac-man Nebula because of its overall shape. The dust cloud just above center is classified as a Bok Globule as it may gravitationally collapse and form a star -- or stars. The Pacman Nebula lies about 10,000 light years away toward the constellation of Cassiopeia.

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The Pacman Nebula showcases the stunning interplay of stars and dust, illustrating how stellar activity shapes the cosmos from within.