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The silhouette of the southern skies. The Coalsack Nebula is the most prominent dark nebula in the sky. Resting nearly 600 light-years away, this massive cloud of cold interstellar dust completely absorbs the light from the dense background starfields of the Milky Way, creating a striking cosmic void.
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Coalsack Nebula (Caldwell 99), dark nebula 600 light-years distant, a dense, interstellar cloud of hydrogen and cosmic dust, coated with water ice and organic molecules. Collections: Southern Celestial Hemisphere
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Wide-field astrophotography of the Milky Way core revealing the full length of the Indigenous Australian "Emu in the Sky" dark nebula constellation, stretching from its head at the Coalsack Nebula down to its legs in Scorpius
