Pacman Nebula

The Pacman Nebula (NGC281, IC11, Sh2-184) is a nice combination of an emission nebula and some dust clouds. It is located in the constellation Cassiopeia at a distance of about 9000 light years.

The false-color images below are composed of narrowband exposure using Ha, OIII, and SII filters. The way these three wavelengths are mapped to the standard RGB channels determines the aesthetic appearance of the image. The first image uses a more naturalistic color scheme, where the dominant Ha emission creates the dominant red hues. The second image uses the so-called Hubble palette, which has nothing to do with the “real” colors of this object, but emphasizes nicely the structure within the nebula.

These images use a total of almost 22 hours of exposures from the TURMX setup. Maybe one should play a little more with the colors…