Astronomy Picture of the Day

   [1]Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                                2023 March 30
    [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest
                        resolution version available.

                        NGC 4372 and the Dark Doodad
              Image Credit & [3]Copyright: [4]Matias Tomasello

   Explanation: The delightful Dark Doodad Nebula drifts [5]through
   southern skies, a tantalizing target for binoculars toward the small
   constellation [6]Musca, The Fly. The dusty cosmic cloud is seen against
   rich starfields just south of the Coalsack Nebula and the Southern
   Cross. Stretching for about 3 degrees across the center of this
   telephoto field of view, [7]the Dark Doodad is punctuated near its
   southern tip (upper right) by yellowish globular star cluster [8]NGC
   4372. Of course NGC 4372 roams the halo of [9]our Milky Way Galaxy, a
   background object some 20,000 light-years away and only by chance along
   our line-of-sight to the Dark Doodad. The Dark Doodad's well defined
   silhouette belongs to the [10]Musca molecular cloud, but its better
   known alliterative moniker was first coined by [11]astro-imager and
   writer Dennis di Cicco in 1986 while observing Comet Halley from the
   Australian outback. The Dark Doodad is around 700 light-years distant
   and over 30 light-years long.

                    Tomorrow's picture: tantalizing Titan
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    Authors & editors: [22]Robert Nemiroff ([23]MTU) & [24]Jerry Bonnell
                                 ([25]UMCP)
          NASA Official: Phillip Newman [26]Specific rights apply.
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                A service of: [28]ASD at [29]NASA / [30]GSFC,
                         [31]NASA Science Activation
                           & [32]Michigan Tech. U.

References

   1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
   2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2303/Doodad200mmAPOD.jpg
   3. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
   4. http://www.starhunter.com.ar/
   5. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210101.html
   6. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musca
   7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Doodad_Nebula
   8. http://spider.seds.org/spider/MWGC/n4372.html
   9. http://www.nasa.gov/jpl/charting-the-milky-way-from-the-inside-out
  10. http://arxiv.org/abs/1507.03742
  11. https://www.minorplanetcenter.net/db_search/show_object?utf8=✓&object_id=dicicco
  12. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230329.html
  13. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
  14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html
  15. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html
  16. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  17. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html
  18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss
  19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html
  20. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html
  21. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=230330>Discuss</a>|<ahref=
  22. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  23. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  24. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  25. http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  26. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  27. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  28. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  29. https://www.nasa.gov/
  30. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  31. https://science.nasa.gov/learners
  32. http://www.mtu.edu/