The Gloomy Doodad Nebula

What’s that uncommon brown ribbon on the sky? When looking out at the star cluster NGC 4372, observers customarily set up in mind an fresh darkish jog nearby running about three degrees in size. The jog, in actual fact a prolonged molecular cloud, has change into incessantly called the Gloomy Doodad Nebula. (Doodad is slang for a thingy or a whatchamacallit.) Pictured here, the Gloomy Doodad Nebula sweeps all the way thru the guts of a grimy rich and vibrant starfield. Its darkish color comes from a excessive focus of interstellar dirt that preferentially scatters visible gentle. The globular star cluster NGC 4372 is visible because the fuzzy white build on the far left, while the intense blue star gamma Muscae is considered to the cluster’s upper correct. The Gloomy Doodad Nebula can even also be learned with solid binoculars in direction of the southern constellation of the Flit (Musca).