NGC 281 in starless form to highlight fine structure within the nebula (Ian Dixon)

NGC 281 in starless form to highlight fine structure within the nebula

On October 3, 2024 I dug out my C8 edge from the basement and decided take advantage of some good seeing (but highly light polluted) and moonless skies. The target for this night was NGC 281 known as the Pac Man. I have about seven hours of integration on this target. I wanted to highlight the dust and gas pillars within this structure.. despite it being a beautifully "clean" look at the regions of star birth, I found it interesting to go after a closer study of the nebulosity in the abscence of stars.

Nasa.gov has a great description of this region. Verbatim:

"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 6,500 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."

Please take a look at the second image uploaded - its a crop of the original and provides a closer look at the structures I was trying to highlight. I hope you like them as much as I enjoyed capturing and processing them. These structures have a very M16-ish vibe to them.

I will provide a starred image soon, for comparitive purposes.

Thanks for looking!
Ian

Final
Original
B
C

B

Title: with crop

Description: I've cropped this down to provide an unfettered view of the structures I was interested in. Hope you enjoy them.
-- Ian

Uploaded: ...

C

Title: star speckled version - version c

Description: This iteration provides the reader with the chance to visualize the place of stars within the nebula.

Uploaded: ...

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