Celestial hemisphere:  Southern  ·  Constellation: Centaurus (Cen)  ·  Contains:  IC 2948
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The Bok globules of IC 2944, Philippe Barraud
The Bok globules of IC 2944
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The Bok globules of IC 2944

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Description

These darks spots appear like holes in the rich nebula. In fact they are very dense gas and dust clouds, discovered in 1950 by A. David Thakeray. But already in 1947, Dutch astronomer Bart Bok first drew attention to these dark objects - and his name was given to them, although they are often reffered to as Thakeray globules.
They are not as compact as they appear. In fact, they are beeing torn apart by the massive O-stars in the surrounding nebula.
Nevertheless, they still are quite big: 1.4 light-year long, and their total mass equal to over 15 solar masses !

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The Bok globules of IC 2944, Philippe Barraud