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                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

    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.

                                2025 March 26
   A starfield dominated by a large nebula is pictured. The center is blue
    and the perimeter is red. Many dark dust pillars are visible. Please
             see the explanation for more detailed information.

                     Star Formation in the Pacman Nebula
                Image Credit & Copyright: Juan Montilla (AAE)

   Explanation: You'd think the Pacman Nebula would be eating stars, but
   actually it is forming them. Within the nebula, a cluster's young,
   massive stars are powering the pervasive nebular glow. The eye-catching
   shapes looming in the featured portrait of NGC 281 are sculpted dusty
   columns and dense Bok globules seen in silhouette, eroded by intense,
   energetic winds and radiation from the hot cluster stars. If they
   survive long enough, the dusty structures could also be sites of future
   star formation. Playfully called the Pacman Nebula because of its
   overall shape, NGC 281 is about 10,000 light-years away in the
   constellation Cassiopeia. This sharp composite image was made through
   narrow-band filters in Spain in mid 2024. It combines emissions from
   the nebula's hydrogen and oxygen atoms to synthesize red, green, and
   blue colors. The scene spans well over 80 light-years at the estimated
   distance of NGC 281.

                       Tomorrow's picture: open space
     __________________________________________________________________

       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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                           NASA Science Activation
                             & Michigan Tech. U.

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