The Snake Nebula (also known as Barnard 72) is a dark
nebula
A nebula (; or nebulas) is a distinct luminescent part of interstellar medium, which can consist of ionized, neutral, or molecular hydrogen and also cosmic dust. Nebulae are often star-forming regions, such as in the Pillars of Creation in ...
in the
Ophiuchus constellation. It is a small but readily apparent SP-shaped
dust lane
A dust lane consists of relatively dense, obscuring clouds of interstellar dust, observed as a dark swath against the background of brighter object(s), especially a galaxy. These dust lanes can usually be seen in spiral galaxies, such as the M ...
that snakes out in front of the Milky Way star clouds from the north-north-west edge of the bowl of the
Pipe Nebula. Its thickness runs between 2′ and 3′ and runs around 6′ in the north-west / south-east orientation. A good view in a 4" to 6" telescope requires clear dark skies.
It is part of the much larger
Dark Horse Nebula.
To the right of the Snake Nebula is
Barnard 68
Barnard 68 is a molecular cloud, dark absorption nebula or Bok globule, towards the southern constellation Ophiuchus and well within the Milky Way galaxy at a distance of about 125 parsecs (407 light-years). It is both close and dense enough that ...
. Below it are
Barnard 69,
Barnard 70, and
Barnard 74.
External links
*
* {{Cite APOD , date=20 February 2009, title=Snake in the Dark
Dark nebulae
Barnard objects
Ophiuchus