Thackeray's Globules

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Thackeray's Globules are dense, opaque dust clouds in outer space, known as globules, in the star-forming region IC 2944.

Little is known about the origin and nature of these globules in IC 2944, which were first found by astronomer A. David Thackeray in 1950. Globules are generally associated with large hydrogen-emitting star-formation regions, which give off the glowing light of hydrogen gas.

Collectively, they contain enough material to equal more than 15 times the mass of our Sun. The surrounding hydrogen-rich region, IC 2944, is filled with gas and dust illuminated and heated by a loose cluster of stars that are much hotter and more massive than our Sun. IC 2944 is relatively close by as interstellar distances go, only 5,900 light-years away in the constellation Centaurus.