APOD: 2026 May 25 – Thackerays Globules
Discover the cosmos!
Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
2026 May 25
Thackeray’s Globules
Image Credit & Copyright:
John Hayes
Explanation:
What are these strange space globs?
Situated in
rich star fields
and glowing hydrogen gas, these opaque clouds of
interstellar dust
and gas are so large they might be able to form stars.
Their home is known as
IC 2944,
a bright stellar nursery located about 7,600 light years away toward the
constellation of the Centaur
(Centaurus).
The largest of these
dark globules,
first spotted by
A. D. Thackeray in 1950
using a telescope in
South Africa,
is likely two separate but overlapping clouds, each more than one
light-year wide.
Along with other data, the
featured Hubble palette image from the
El Sauce Observatory in Chile, indicates that
Thackeray’s globules are fractured and churning as a result
of intense
ultraviolet radiation from young, hot stars already
energizing and heating the bright
emission nebula.
These and similar
dark globules known to be associated with other
star forming
regions may ultimately be dissipated by their hostile environment —
like cosmic lumps of
butter in a hot frying pan.
Interstellar Jigsaw:
Astronomy Puzzle of the Day
Tomorrow’s picture: different galaxies
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Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn
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