The Pacman Nebula (also known as NGC 281) is an H II region of which the Orion Nebula is the best known example. H II regions are large clouds of partially ionized gas in which stars have recently been formed. They may give birth to thousands of stars over a period of several million years.

Technical Information       

Date:                        September, 2009

Location:                 Green Valley, Arizona

Telescope:              Takahashi TOA 130F

Camera:                  SBIG ST-2000XM

Filters:                     Astrodon Gen 1

Mount:                     AstroPhysics 1200

Exposure:               HαRGB = 420:75:75:75 minutes, all unbinned

Software:                Acquisition: Maxim DL 5, TheSky6

                                 Processing: CCDStack, PhotoShop CS3 with various plugins