|
Bok Globule Barnard 88 Located in the northern part of the Lagoon Nebula, Barnard 88 is one of the three prominent dark clouds, or Bok globules, that can be observed there. It appears as a comet-shaped feature, stretching along the North-South line. If one of these opaque clouds of gas and dust becomes massive enough that gas pressure can no longer support it, the cloud will undergo gravitational collapse. This process may then yield anywhere from one to several new stars. Despite their typical diameters of about 50 000 times the distance between the Earth and the Sun, and masses of about 15 times that of the Sun, dark globules qualify as rather small star-forming regions. Within Barnard 88, twisting stellar whirlwinds carve funnel-like shapes, and powerful radiation from nearby stars sculpts and warps the cloud. The name Bok comes from the Dutch–American astronomer Bart Bok, who was the first to mark these clouds as possible star-forming regions. While observing the beautiful sight of the Lagoon Nebula, the American astronomer Edward Emerson Barnard (best known for the discovery of Barnard’s Star, named in his honour) recorded the Barnard 88 globule in his catalogue of dark nebulae, along with two other Bok globules that have retained his imprint, Barnard 89 and Barnard 269.
View file segment |
|
|