The Milky Way Project Talk

Dark nebula, or something else?

  • delete_595333fc by delete_595333fc

    http://s3.amazonaws.com/mwp-development/south/0.75x0.375_jpgs/GLM_31992+0044_mosaic_I24M1.jpg

    I'm sorry if I shouldn't have posted this here or anything, but I didn't know where I should post this or on what thread. I wanted to see if it harbored anything interesting for anyone else. On the left of the image is a bubble, shaped rather like an upside down heart, with a green streamer falling from the bottom. The weird thing is a dark band wreathing through the green, right from almost the center of the bubble.

    I've almost started to dub it the bleeding heart bubble.

    What do you think this could be?

    Posted

  • ebressert by ebressert

    What you're describing is an infrared dark cloud (IRDC). It's a filamentary structure of gas and dust that is so thick that no infrared light can pass through it. Hence the name. These objects are prevalent in the Milky Way, but what you spotted is uniquely beautiful. IRDCs are where many stars form and is currently thought to be where many massive stars form. Please always post images that you find interesting as there are many unexplained objects waiting to be spotted!

    -Eli Bressert

    Posted

  • delete_595333fc by delete_595333fc

    😄 Thank you! (and thank you very much for being quite nice about it!) I was pretty sure it was an IRDC, but it seemed pretty interesting, so I decided to post it in here anywhere. 😃

    Posted

  • chairstar by chairstar

    To me, it looks like a right-side up red heart, skewed to almost (it's left edge)on. If not for the green filimentery curve from the "hearts" left, down toward the right, I'd almost call it the heart with an arrow thru it. (w/o feathers on the arrow).

    chairstar_

    Posted