Barnard 72 “ Snake Nebula”

The Snake Nebula (also known as Barnard 72) is a dark nebula (opens in a new tab) in the Ophiuchus constellation (opens in a new tab). 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 (opens in a new tab). 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 (opens in a new tab).

To the right side of the Snake Nebula is found Barnard 68 (opens in a new tab). Below it are found Barnard 69, Barnard 70, and Barnard 74.