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Dark nebula

The Aquila Rift

Also Great Rift (part) · Serpens–Aquila Rift

Open in Ouranos

Part of the Great Rift — the dark lanes of dust that split the bright band of the Milky Way from Cygnus to Sagittarius.

Measured

Distance
about 907 light-years (published estimates 532–913)
Constellation
Ophiuchus
Position (J2000)
RA 17h 58m 00s, Dec −5.60°

How far, from the Sun

About 907 light-years. To cross it:

  • Light907 years
  • Voyager 1's speed16.1 million years
  • Driving at 100 km/h9.79 billion years

Voyager 1 at the speed it moved outward over the year to 2026-10-25 (JPL Horizons). Driving: nonstop, never refuelling.

Facts

  • It is one of the nearby large cloud complexes, about 200 to 300 parsecs away.
  • Its distance comes from where stars behind it start to look dimmed and reddened by its dust, using Gaia parallaxes with sky-survey colours.

Where this comes from

  • Zucker et al. 2020, A&A 633, A51 (278 pc on the sightline used; their sightlines across the cloud span 163–280 pc)
  • This research has made use of the SIMBAD database, CDS, Strasbourg, France (Wenger et al. 2000, A&AS 143, 9).
  • This research has made use of the VizieR catalogue access tool, CDS, Strasbourg, France (DOI: 10.26093/cds/vizier).

Every catalogue Ouranos draws is credited on the credits page.