NGC 4372与暗带星云

2023年3月30日

NGC 4372 and the Dark Doodad
Image Credit & Copyright: Matias Tomasello

Explanation: The delightful Dark Doodad Nebula drifts through southern skies, a tantalizing target for binoculars toward the small constellation Musca, The Fly. The dusty cosmic cloud is seen against rich starfields just south of the Coalsack Nebula and the Southern Cross. Stretching for about 3 degrees across the center of this telephoto field of view, the Dark Doodad is punctuated near its southern tip (upper right) by yellowish globular star cluster NGC 4372. Of course NGC 4372 roams the halo of our Milky Way Galaxy, a background object some 20,000 light-years away and only by chance along our line-of-sight to the Dark Doodad. The Dark Doodad’s well defined silhouette belongs to the Musca molecular cloud, but its better known alliterative moniker was first coined by astro-imager and writer Dennis di Cicco in 1986 while observing Comet Halley from the Australian outback. The Dark Doodad is around 700 light-years distant and over 30 light-years long.

Tomorrow’s picture: tantalizing Titan

NGC 4372与暗带星云
图像提供与版权: Matias Tomasello

说明: 在南天飘流的悦目暗[饰]带星云，是苍蝇座内用双筒望远镜观星的吸睛标的。这团以富星场为衬托的宇宙尘埃云，位在煤袋星云及南十字星群之南。在这片望远镜视野里绵延了将近3度的暗带星云，其南端看似终止于右上方的泛黄球状星云NGC 4372。不过，于银河系银晕里漫游的NGC 4372，是远在20,000多光年之外的背景天体，只是凑巧和暗带星云在同一视线方向。拥有鲜明边界的暗带星云，是苍蝇分子云的一部份，它贴切的昵称，是由天文摄影者/作家Dennis di Cicco 1986年在澳大利亚荒野观测哈雷彗星时所提出的。暗带星云离我们约700光年远，长度则超过30光年。（Dark Doodad Nebula 暗[饰]带星云）

明日的图片: tantalizing Titan