Eerie Dark Cloud Blocks Distant Starlight from View

Like a black fog churning through space, this view of a dark molecular cloud seems to extinguish the sparkle of distant stars.

Believed to be the genesis of a possible star system, this dusty cloud — called LDN1774 — may collapse under mutual gravity in the future, eventually sparking the birth of a protostar and eventual system of planets.

This feature was observed in visible light by the Wide Field Imager, an instrument attached to the European Southern Observatory’s 2.2-meter MPG/ESO telescope at La Silla, Chile, but it’s not the only example of such an ominous looking black cosmic cloud.

Located around 500 light-years from Earth, another pitch black molecular cloud called Barnard 68 resides. Extensively studied by ESO telescopes, this cloud can be probed in infrared wavelengths — this form of radiation can pass through the star-forming material, allowing astronomers to see the earliest stages stellar birth.

From Discovery News