NGC 281 is a nebula with a open cluster (IC 1590) with a visual magnitude of 7 and agular size of 35 arc minutes. It is a region of star birth, where the light of the youngs stars ionizes the surrounding gas and makes it shine. It also has dense columnes of gas, dark areas and important Bok globules. The nebulas is located 10,000 light years from Earth and is extension is 80 light years.