Thackeray's globules in IC 2944
Strangely glowing dark clouds float serenely in this remarkable and beautiful image taken with the Hubble Space Telescope. These dense, opaque dust clouds - known as 'globules' - are silhouetted against nearby bright stars in the busy star-forming region, IC 2944.
Astronomer A.D. Thackeray first spied the globules in IC 2944 in 1950. Globules like these have been known since Dutch-American astronomer Bart Bok first drew attention to such objects in 1947.
But astronomers still know very little about their origin and nature, except that they are generally associated with areas of star formation, called 'HII regions' due to the presence of hydrogen gas. IC 2944 is filled with gas and dust that is illuminated and heated by a loose cluster of massive stars. These stars are much hotter and much more massive than our Sun.
Credit:About the Image
About the Object
Name: | IC 2944, Thackeray's Globules |
Type: | Milky Way : Nebula : Type : Star Formation Milky Way : Nebula : Appearance : Dark : Bok Globule |
Distance: | 6500 light years |
Constellation: | Centaurus |
Category: | Nebulae |
Wallpapers
Coordinates
Position (RA): | 11 38 22.29 |
Position (Dec): | -63° 20' 37.14" |
Field of view: | 2.45 x 2.49 arcminutes |
Orientation: | North is 75.7° left of vertical |
Colours & filters
Band | Wavelength | Telescope |
---|---|---|
Optical B | 439 nm |
Hubble Space Telescope
WFPC2 |
Optical V | 555 nm |
Hubble Space Telescope
WFPC2 |
Optical H-alpha | 656 nm |
Hubble Space Telescope
WFPC2 |
Optical R | 675 nm |
Hubble Space Telescope
WFPC2 |