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 生成的摘要
恆星能夠從其誕生的濃密黑暗分子雲中創造出巨大而精緻的塵埃雕塑。它們利用高能光和快速的恆星風來雕刻這些細緻的作品，產生的熱量使黑暗的分子塵埃蒸發，並使周圍的氫氣散開並發光。圖中顯示的新開放星團IC 1590正在接近完成，圍繞著發射星雲NGC 281中的複雜星際塵埃結構，該星雲因其整體形狀而被稱為Pac-man星雲。中央上方的塵埃雲被歸類為Bok Globule，因為它可能會因重力塌縮而形成恆星。Pacman星雲距離地球約10,000光年，位於仙后座方向。