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NGC 1999, Dionysus
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NGC 1999

NGC 1999, Dionysus
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NGC 1999

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Description

It was previously believed that the black patch at the centre of the bright nebula was a dense cloud of dust and gas which blocked light that would normally pass through, called a dark nebula. 

With support from ground-based observations done using the submillimeter bolometer cameras on the Atacama Pathfinder Experiment radio telescope (November 29, 2009) and the Mayall (Kitt Peak) and Magellan telescopes (December 4, 2009), it was determined that the patch looks black not because it is an extremely dense pocket of gas, but because it is truly empty.

Fourteen years later, the exact cause of this phenomenon is still unknown...

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NGC 1999, Dionysus

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d) Nebulae