December 29, 1996
The night sky on your birthday is never quite the same twice — the planets shift, the constellations drift, the Moon wears a different phase.
Dark Bok Globules in IC 2944
Birthday · December 29, 1996
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APOD published December 29, 1996. Credit: David Malin, Anglo Australian Observartory. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
The dark spots in the above picture are not photographic defects but an unusual type of interstellar cloud known as a Bok globule. Bok globules, named after astronomer Bart Bok who studied them extensively, are small dark clouds made of gas and dust that are typically condensing to form a star or stars. These Bok globules are found in front of a glowing H II region known as IC 2944.
Image credit: David Malin, Anglo Australian Observartory