The brightest member of this cluster is actually a multiple-star system shining light that helps ionize the nebula's gas, causing the red glow visible throughout. The lanes of dust on the lower right might be the home of future star formation . Particularly striking in the above photograph are the dark Bok globules visible against the bright nebula. Stars are probably forming there right now. The entire NGC 281 system lies about 10 thousand light years distant.
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