The Snake Nebula in Ophiuchus | Kitt Peak National Observatory

The Snake Nebula in Ophiuchus | Kitt Peak National Observatory

What slithers here? The Snake Nebula is a small S-shaped dust lane that snakes out in front of the Milky Way star clouds from the north-north-west edge of the bowl of the Pipe Nebula (the name for the rump and hind legs of the Dark Horse Nebula). The very dark spot to the lower left of the Snake is Barnard 68 (the Ink Spot). Also known as Barnard 72, the Snake Nebula is a series of dark absorption clouds, about 5 light-years across, made up of molecular gas and interstellar dust. Interstellar dust grains—composed predominantly of carbon—absorb visible starlight and reradiate much of it in the infrared. This absorption causes stars behind the clouds to be obscured from view, hence the appearance of starless voids on the sky. Molecular clouds like the Snake Nebula are places where new stars are likely to form. The Snake Nebula, lies about 650 light-years away in the constellation of Ophiuchus (the Serpent Bearer), 1.5° north-northeast of Theta Ophiuchi. It is part of the much larger Dark Horse Nebula and spans the angular width of a full moon.

Barnard 72 (B72) is one of the 182 dark nebulae cataloged in the early 20th century by the American astronomer Edward Emerson Barnard. Unlike bright emission nebulae and star clusters, Barnard’s nebulae are interstellar dark clouds of obscuring gas and dust. Their shapes are visible in cosmic silhouette only because they lie in the foreground along the line of sight to rich star fields and glowing stellar nurseries near the plane of our Galaxy. Many of Barnard’s dark nebulae are themselves likely sites of future star formation.

This image was taken as part of Advanced Observing Program (AOP) program at Kitt Peak Visitor Center during 2014.

Credit: KPNO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/Tom McQuillan/Adam Block

Release Date: June 13, 2014

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