Dark Doodad Nebula

The Dark Doodad Nebula is a dark streak in the sky, near the great globular cluster NGC 4372, having a length of nearly three degrees. "The NGC 4372 is partially obscured by dust lanes, but still appears as a large object some 10 arcseconds in diameter." ^[1] Although officially unnamed, this long molecular cloud has become to be known under this name.^{[nb 1]} It can be found in the southern constellation of Musca (the Fly) with strong binoculars.^[2]

It consists of regions of dents, gas and dust. This cloud is one of the closest star forming regions to the solar systems.^[3] Alan Whitman, from the Astromical Society of New South Wales, has described this as one of the finest dark nebulae—one that is "wonderful, winding, and very definite." Beside the southern end of the Dark Doodad is the globular cluster NGC 4372(12'^ 25.8'" -72" 39'). At 136x it was so loosely scattered that it resembled an open cluster, except for its underlying glow.^[4]

History

The Dark Doodad was named by American amateur astronomer and writer Dennis di Cicco in 1988 upon seeing an image he took from Alice Springs in central Australia.^[5] Steven Coe has given it the name Sand Qvist 149, because he believes it should be named after the astronomer who found it, but it has been nicknamed and is more well known as the dark doodad.^[3]

Notes

1. ^ Doodad: thingy, whatchamacallit

References

1. ^ Inglis, Mike. Astronomy of the Milky Way: Observer's guide to the southern sky. http://books.google.com/books?id=1r0qvMjSCGAC&pg=SA3-PA12&dq=%22NGC+4372%22&hl=en&ei=YBPPTKi-D8T6lwer37yaBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CDEQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=%22NGC%204372%22&f=false. Retrieved 2010-11-01. 
2. ^ Astronomy Picture of the Day: The Dark Doodad Nebula
3. ^ ^{a b} >Steven, Coe (2007). Nebulae and how to observe them. Spring Street, New York: Springer Science and Business Media, LLC. pp. 95. ISBN 1-84628-482-1. http://books.google.com/books?id=roXyxpcc9MsC&lpg=PA95&dq=%22dark%20doodad%22&pg=PA95#v=onepage&q=%22dark%20doodad%22&f=false. Retrieved 2010-11-03. 
4. ^ Whitman, Alan (Feb 2002). "Nebulae of the Deep South" (PDF). Sky & Telescope 103 (2): 110. http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=5&hid=108&sid=80aca461-ee65-4b97-ad20-9fe51203be67%40sessionmgr113. Retrieved 2010-11-04. 
5. ^ Ventrudo, Dr. Brian (May 27, 2008). "One Minute Astronomer". http://www.oneminuteastronomer.com/OMALibrary/dark-doodad.html. Retrieved 2010-11-11.