NGC 4372 and Dark Doodad

The Dark Doodad Nebula is a dark nebula located near the globular cluster NGC 4372 in the constellation Musca,and 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. Although officially unnamed, this long molecular cloud has come to be known under this name. It consists of regions of dense gas and dust. This cloud is one of the closest star forming regions to the solar system. Alan Whitman, describes this as "one of the finest dark nebulae-one that is wonderful, winding, and very definite". Text adapted from Wikipedia

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