NGC 281 (or IC 11) is a bright emission nebula and H II region in
the constellation of Cassiopeia and part of the Milky Way's Perseus
Spiral Arm. This 20× 30 arcmin sized nebulosity is also associated
with the open cluster IC 1590, several Bok globules and the multiple
star, B 1. Colloquially, NGC 281 is also known as the Pacman Nebula
for its resemblance to the video game character.

E. E. Barnard discovered this nebula in August 1883 by , who described
it as "a large faint nebula, very diffuse." The multiple star is known
as 'B 1' or β 1 was first discovered by S. W. Burnham, whose bright
component is identified as the highly luminous O6 spectral class star,
HD 5005 or HIP 4121. It consists of an 8th-magnitude primary with four
companions at distances between 1.4 and 15.7 seconds of arc. There has
been no appreciable change in this quintuple system since the first
measurements were made in 1875.

The nebula region is visible in amateur telescopes from dark sky locations.
In his book Deep Sky Wonders, Walter Scott Houston describes the appearance
of the nebula in small telescopes:[3]

There was a faint glow in the immediate vicinity of the multiple star,
with an occasional impression of a much larger nebulosity...Its surface
brightness was much less than that of M33 in Triangulum or NGC 205, the
distant companion of the Andromeda galaxy.