Waca Waca Waca Waca Waca Waca

Waca waca waca waca waca waca waca. Do you remember the sound of a Pacman? I bet you are doing it right now aren’t you… Well I have found the original, the progenitor of the classic 1980’s video game chomping power pills and chasing ghosts amongst the stars of the constellation Cassiopeia.




NGC281 or the aptly named Pacman Nebula is a bright emission nebula located 9200 light years away in the Perseus arm of our own Milky Way galaxy.
Discovered in 1883 it visually looks the same today as its discovery 138 years ago. However with modern technology and a dedicated Astro camera that can capture the faintest wavelengths of light invisible to the naked eye show you clouds of gas ten thousand degrees in temperature and walls of dust ( at Pacman's mouth) not being eaten but forming new stars.
My Blue & Gold Hued image is what we call a false colour image, using filters of the Hydrogen Alpha, Sulpur ii and Oxygen iii emission lines and mapped to RGB to create a colour image you see here.

Captured over several nights I have just shy of six hours worth of data. Tell you can see him right…..

Pleiades

A star cluster known to every civilisation and buried within the folklore across every culture on the planet, The Pleiades or the seven sisters is probably the most recognisable of all the 88 constellations. I think also the best example of a reflection nebula. Containing over a thousand members mostly of hot young stars. Slowly moving through space through an unrelated dust cloud, the dust is illuminated by light and the energy of the stars.

I love the way the dust is sculpted in front of the stars Maia & Merope.

Just under two hours of exposure time captured in 3 minute exposures using the ZWO ASI294MC pro, Calibrated with Flats, Darks and Dark Flats The first real test too using the new auto focus routine with the ZWO EAF focuser. All I can say is incredible, A quick and simple procedure that takes 2-3 minutes and can be incorporated into the autorun of a sequence. You can add a change to focus via temp difference or time. A Video to follow.