The nebula NGC 281 was first identified over 100 year ago by American astronomer E. E. Barnard , but today , many scientists lie with this monolithic cloud of detritus and gasolene not as “ NGC 281 ” but as “ The Pacman Nebula , ” owing to its resemblance to Pac - Man , the iconic dot - scarf case first featured in Namco ’s eponymous arcade biz .
When watch through visible - light telescope , the genius - forming cloud come along to be wokkawokkawokka - ing its way through space , as seen in the figure of speech of the nebula featured below , appropriate back in 2007 .
But when NASA scientist took a look at The Pacman Nebula through the eyes of their broad - field Infrared Survey Explorer , they observed a serial publication of clouds ( inconspicuous to the naked center ) that seem to head toward a cluster of late imprint stars located near the center of the image featured up top ( flick forfull sizeandhi - resversions ) .
According to NASA :
Within the clump there are several very massive star , many times the pot of the Sunday . These sensation are also very hot and produce declamatory measure of ultraviolet radiation and blow strong winds . The radiation and winds eat away the expectant cloud from the inside out , giving it a racing shell - like appearance .
The process of the erosion of the nebula by the young star cluster is opine to trigger the additional establishment of lead . Around the bound of NGC 281 are many long newspaper column pointing toward the central genius cluster , giving the appearance of the Pac - man with teeth .
ViaNASA
wise to image viaNASA ; ocular ikon viaNASA
NASASpace
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