Astronomy Picture of the Day ·

Star Formation in the Pacman Nebula

The Astronomy Picture of the Day for August 28, 2023 is “Star Formation in the Pacman Nebula,” an image. The picture is copyrighted by its creator (Image Credit & Copyright: Craig Stocks). The original explanation runs about 150 words.

A nebula that appears blue in the middle and is surrounded by red-glowing gas is featured. Dramatic lanes of dark dust cut through the nebula's left side. A group of stars is visible toward the nebula's center. Please see the explanation fo
Credit: Image Credit & Copyright: Craig Stocks Copyrighted Shown from science.nasa.gov. Not hosted by OpenOrbit.

From the explanation

“Look through the cosmic cloud cataloged as NGC 281 and you might miss the stars of open cluster IC 1590 . Formed within the nebula , that cluster’s young, massive stars ultimately power the pervasive nebular glow.”

— APOD editors, August 28, 2023

Read the full explanation on science.nasa.gov

At a glance

Date
August 28, 2023
Type
Image
Credit
Credit: Image Credit & Copyright: Craig Stocks
Copyright
Copyrighted by the credited creator. Ask the copyright holder before reusing it.
Explanation length
About 150 words

All of August 2023 → · 2023 by month → · Full archive since 1995 →

Topics in this entry

NebulaeStar clusters

Topics are matched from words in the title and explanation.

On this day: August 28 in other years

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Source

Copy taken Oct 28, 2026, 2:39 AM EDT. The image and explanation belong to their creators. OpenOrbit is not affiliated with or endorsed by NASA.