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.
Stars and Dust in the Pacman Nebula
AI-generated summary
Stars sculpt intricate dust structures from molecular clouds using high-energy light and stellar winds. The heat generated evaporates dust and causes hydrogen gas to glow. The image features the open star cluster IC 1590 forming around the dust in the Pac-man Nebula (NGC 281), located about 10,000 light-years away in Cassiopeia. A dust cloud above center is a Bok Globule, which may collapse to form new stars.