Astronomy Picture of the Day: Portrait of NGC 281


	Astronomy Picture of the Day: Portrait of NGC 281

travislaborde

12-10-2008 7:34 AM

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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://www.clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/1f728799-6782-42e0-9e36-cb5b50f4a48d/44D92759-B594-45D8-AB88-F5E92358B71A/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html" href="http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html" style="font-size: 11px;">antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html"><H1> Astronomy Picture of the Day </H1></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html"><div align="center"><img src="http://content9.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/img/9D0FC6A6-42D8-458C-88D8-CD606235BC35" alt="See Explanation.  Clicking on the picture will download
 the highest resolution version available." /></div></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html"><B> Portrait of NGC 281 </B></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html"><P>
<B> Explanation: </B>
Look through the cosmic cloud cataloged as
<A href="http://collab.digitaluniverse.net/wiki/NGC_281">NGC 281</A>
and it's almost easy to miss stars of the open cluster
<A href="http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1997AJ....113.2116G">IC 1590</A>.
But, formed within the nebula, that cluster's young, massive stars
ultimately power the pervasive
<A href="http://www.noao.edu/image_gallery/
emission_nebulae.html">nebular glow</A>.
The eye-catching shapes looming in
<A href="http://www.rdelsol.net/NGC281/NGC281.html">this colorful
portrait</A> of NGC 281
are sculpted columns and dense
<A href="http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap020108.html">dust globules</A> 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.
Sometimes called the <A href="http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap050823.html">Pacman Nebula</A> because
of its overall shape in
<A href="http://heritage.stsci.edu/2006/13/supplemental.html">wider-field</A>
views, NGC 281 is about 10,000 light-years away in the constellation
<A href="http://www.hawastsoc.org/deepsky/cas/">Cassiopeia</A>.
This composite image was made through
<A href="http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap071102.html">narrow-band</A> filters
and shows emission from the nebula's hydrogen, sulfur, and oxygen atoms
in green, red, and blue hues.
It spans over 80 light-years at the estimated distance of NGC 281.
</P></blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/44D92759-B594-45D8-AB88-F5E92358B71A/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content6.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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