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Astronomy Picture of the Day - NGC 4372 and the Dark Doodad
NASA ^
| 31 Jul, 2026
| Image Credit & Copyright: Alessandro Cipolat Bares
Posted on 07/31/2026 1:28:48 PM PDT by MtnClimber
Explanation: The Dark Doodad Nebula drifts through southern skies, a tantalizing target for binoculars toward the small constellation Musca, The Fly. A dusty interstellar cloud, it's seen against rich starfields just south of the Coalsack Nebula and the Southern Cross. Stretching for about 3 degrees across this telescopic field of view, the Dark Doodad is punctuated near its southern tip (upper right) by yellowish globular star cluster NGC 4372. Of course NGC 4372 roams the halo of 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. About 700 light-years distant and over 30 light-years long, the Dark Doodad's well defined silhouette belongs to the potentially star-forming Musca molecular cloud. The dusty Dark Doodad's delightfully alliterative moniker was first coined by astro-imager and writer Dennis di Cicco in 1986 while observing Comet Halley from the Australian outback.
TOPICS: Astronomy; Astronomy Picture of the Day; Science
KEYWORDS: apod; nasa
To be added or removed from the Astronomy Picture of the Day ping list please send me a request via "Private Reply" (Mail). For more detail go to the link and click on the image for a high definition image. You can then move the magnifying glass cursor then click to zoom in and click again to zoom out. When zoomed in you can scan by moving the side bars on the bottom and right side of the image.
To: MtnClimber
2
posted on
07/31/2026 1:29:09 PM PDT
by
MtnClimber
(For photos of scenery, wildlife and climbing, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
To: 21stCenturion; 21twelve; 4everontheRight; A Navy Vet; A_perfect_lady; abb; AFB-XYZ; AFPhys; ...
Pinging the APOD list
🪐 🌟 🌌 🍔
3
posted on
07/31/2026 1:29:51 PM PDT
by
MtnClimber
(For photos of scenery, wildlife and climbing, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
To: MtnClimber
LOL. ‘The Dark Doodad Nebula’.
4
posted on
07/31/2026 1:37:50 PM PDT
by
Jamestown1630
("A Republic, if you can keep it.")
To: MtnClimber
The link doesn’t work for me.
5
posted on
07/31/2026 1:41:02 PM PDT
by
econjack
To: econjack
6
posted on
07/31/2026 1:45:45 PM PDT
by
MtnClimber
(For photos of scenery, wildlife and climbing, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
To: MtnClimber
“Pardon me as I whip this thing out.”
7
posted on
07/31/2026 1:54:01 PM PDT
by
BenLurkin
(The above is not a statement of fact. It is opinion or satire. Or both.)
To: MtnClimber
8
posted on
07/31/2026 1:57:15 PM PDT
by
Bullish
(My tagline ran off with another man, but it's okay... I wasn't married to it.)
To: MtnClimber
That’s a long doodad...........
9
posted on
07/31/2026 3:32:06 PM PDT
by
Red Badger
(Iryna Zarutska, May 22, 2002 Kyiv, Ukraine – August 22, 2025 Charlotte, North Carolina Say her name)
To: MtnClimber
10
posted on
07/31/2026 4:08:44 PM PDT
by
SkyDancer
( ~ Am Yisrael Chai ~)
To: MtnClimber
Our Northern skies have many neat things to look at, but the summer Milky Way in the Southern skies must be spectacular.
11
posted on
07/31/2026 4:09:55 PM PDT
by
telescope115
(Ad Astra, Ad Deum…)
To: telescope115
Agreed. The southern hemisphere has incredible structures.
12
posted on
07/31/2026 4:38:06 PM PDT
by
Islander7
(There is no septic system so vile, so filthy, the left won't drink from to further their agenda.)
To: MtnClimber
13
posted on
07/31/2026 5:20:50 PM PDT
by
No name given
( Anonymous is who you’ll know me as )
To: MtnClimber
Looks like a worm in space:
In space, no one can hear you squirm…
One small wiggle for wormkind…
To: Deaf and Discerning
15
posted on
07/31/2026 7:27:26 PM PDT
by
telescope115
(Ad Astra, Ad Deum…)
To: MtnClimber
Looks like Wile E. Coyote riding an Acme rocket toward a collision with something hard.
16
posted on
07/31/2026 8:33:38 PM PDT
by
Some Fat Guy in L.A.
(Still bitterly clinging to rational thought despite its unfashionability)
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