Great Rift (astronomy)

Image of the Great Rift - a dusty lane that stretches from the constellation Cygnus to Sagittarius.

In astronomy, the Great Rift (sometimes called the Dark Side, Dark Rift, or, less commonly, Dark River) is a series of overlapping, non-luminous, molecular dust clouds that are located between the Solar System and the Sagittarius Arm of the Milky Way Galaxy at a distance of about 100 parsecs or about 300 light years (2×10¹⁵ miles or 3×10¹⁵ kilometers) from Earth. The clouds are estimated to contain about 1 million solar masses of plasma and dust.^[1]

Properties

To the naked eye, the Great Rift appears as a dark lane that divides the bright band of the Milky Way lengthwise, through about one-third of its extent, and is flanked by lanes of numerous stars.^[1]

Starting at the constellation of Cygnus, where it is known as the Cygnus Rift or Northern Coalsack, the Great Rift stretches to Aquila; to Ophiuchus, where it broadens out; to Sagittarius, where it obscures the Galactic Center; and finally to Centaurus. One of the most important regions it obscures is the Cygnus OB2 association, a large cluster of young stars and one of the largest regions of star formation near Earth. A similar dark band can be seen in edge-on distant galaxies, such as NGC 891 in Andromeda.^[2]

Gallery

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  Wide angle view the Milky Way near the Cygnus constellation showing the dark lane of the Great Rift.

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  Milky Way Image showing the dusty lanes dotted with colorful nebulae between Sagittarius to Scorpius.

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  Radio image showing intense radio emissions emanating from the center of the Milky Way.

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  View of the Milky Way and the Great Rift from ESO's Very Large Telescope in Cerro Paranal, Chile.

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  Mysterious ring composed of very dense and cold gas and dust at the center of the Milky Way.

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  Image showing the dense and compact regions where gas and dust clump together in the galaxy.

See also

• Dark-cloud constellations

Notes

References

• "The Great Rift". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 2009. Retrieved 2009-04-25. 
• "Great Rift". Sci-Tech Dictionary:. Retrieved 2009-04-25. 
• Kaler, Jim. "The Milky Way - From STARS". University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Department of Astronomy. pp. Maps 2 and 5. Retrieved 2009-04-25. 
• NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day: Dark River, Wide Field (19 July 2010)