Mon 25th of May 2026 UTC
Astronomy.co.uk Moon Phase Widget
Age: 10 days old
Phase: Waxing Gibbous
Illumination: 73%
Distance: 388,536 km
from the NASA archive - 25th May 2026

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

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Astronomy.co.uk
19th November 2025 at 15:31
https://www.astronomy.co.uk/astronomy-picture-of-the-day/
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Astronomy.co.uk
1st May 2025 at 09:19
Th Sky Tonight - May 2025
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Astronomy.co.uk
18th December 2024 at 10:01
https://www.astronomy.co.uk/the-sky-tonight/
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Astronomy.co.uk
8th February 2022 at 00:25
The Pinwheel Galaxy -NASA
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Astronomy.co.uk
17th January 2022 at 16:33
The first Full Moon of 2022, known as the Wolf Moon, will occur tonight! Throughout cold January nights, the howling of wolves could be heard around villages in both Europe and America, so the January Full Moon became widely known as the Wolf Moon. The exact time of the Full Wolf Moon is January 17, 2022, 23:48 GMT
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Astronomy.co.uk
16th January 2022 at 14:07
The Lagoon Nebula - Hubble
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Astronomy.co.uk
5th January 2022 at 10:54
This is a small section of the Cygnus supernova blast wave which appears as a delicate streak of light. Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, W. Blair; acknowledgment: Leo Shatz
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Astronomy.co.uk
4th January 2022 at 10:01
An exploding star ! Hubble
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Astronomy.co.uk
3rd January 2022 at 12:12
The station crew sees 16 sunrises a day, and they officially started 2022 at 12am GMT.
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Astronomy.co.uk
2nd January 2022 at 09:07
The Snow Angel Nebula - Hubble
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Astronomy.co.uk
1st January 2022 at 09:04
Crescent Earth The Earth as seen from the Moon on the Command Module of Apollo17 on December 16, 1972. Credit: @NASA (image #AS17-152-23274); Processing: @JPMajor
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Astronomy.co.uk
31st December 2021 at 11:25
Dolphin head nebula located near the center of the constellation Canis Major
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Astronomy.co.uk
30th December 2021 at 13:57
DEM L249, located in the Large Magellanic Cloud, is an unusual supernova remnant. Image Credit: NASA, ESA, and Y. Chou (Academia Sinica, Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics); Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America)
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Astronomy.co.uk
29th December 2021 at 13:58
The Prawn Nebula is a massive stellar nursery located in the constellation Scorpius, about 6,000 light years from Earth Hubble
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