Right ascension 17 23 30 Distance 650 ly (200 pc) Radius N/A ly | Declination −23° 38′ Apparent dimensions (V) 37 × 17 arcmins Designations Barnard 72 | |
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Similar Pipe Nebula, Dark Horse, Rho Ophiuchi cloud co, Barnard 68, NGC 6334 | ||
The Snake Nebula (also known as Barnard 72) is a dark nebula in the Ophiuchus constellation. It is a small but readily apparent S-shaped dust lane that snakes out in front of the Milky Way star clouds from the north-north-west edge of the bowl of the Pipe Nebula. Its thickness runs between 2′ and 3′ and runs around 6′ in the north-west / south-east orientation. A good view in a 4" to 6" telescope requires clear dark skies.
It is part of the much larger Dark Horse Nebula.
To the right side of the Snake Nebula is found Barnard 68. Below it are found Barnard 69, Barnard 70, and Barnard 74.
References
Snake Nebula Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA