http://www.spacetelescope.org lars@eso.org +49 (0) 89 320 06 306 ESA/Hubble/ST-ECF, ESO, Karl-Schwarzschild-Strasse 2 Garching bei München D-85748 Germany ESA/Hubble Space Telescope NASA, ESA, and The Hubble Heritage Team STScI/AURA)Acknowledgment: P. McCullough (STScI) 04/04/2006 ESA/Hubble Space Telescope NGC 281, bok globules The yearly ritual of spring cleaning clears a house of dust as well as dust "bunnies", those pesky dust balls that frolic under beds and behind furniture. NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has photographed similar dense knots of dust and gas in our Milky Way Galaxy. This cosmic dust, however, is not a nuisance. It is a concentration of elements that are responsible for the formation of stars in our galaxy and throughout the universe.These opaque, dark knots of gas and dust are called Bok globules, and they are absorbing light in the center of the nearby emission nebula and star-forming region, NGC 281. The globules are named after astronomer Bart Bok, who proposed their existence in the 1940's. Nearby Dust Clouds in the Milky Way opo0613a B.4.2.3.2. B4.2.1. B.4.1.2. http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/html/opo0613a.html Observation Good 2873 3885 ICRS J2000 13.2655260 56.6447590 1437.5 1943.5 1.38940980370425e-05 1.38933645396111e-05 TAN 5.42615996e-06 -1.27849599e-05 -1.2790729e-05 -5.43786526e-06 Full WCS info from NASA/Hubble ESA/Hubble Space Telescope 1 Hubble ACS 01/12/2007 http://www.spacetelescope.org/copyright.html