A little patch on the border of the inky Coalsack Nebula, or Caldwell 99, is captured in this magnificent photograph. Caldwell 99 is a dark nebula, which is defined as a dense cloud of interstellar dust that entirely covers visible light wavelengths from objects behind it.

A (far smaller) protoplanetary nebula is visible in the image’s centre. A protoplanetary nebula is a late stage in a star’s life when it has ejected a hydrogen gas disc and is rapidly heating up. This stage lasts only a few thousand years before the central star of the protoplanetary nebula reaches a temperature of around 30,000 Kelvin.

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At this time, the central star has produced enough energy to cause the gas surrounding it to light, forming a planetary nebula.

Caldwell 99 is a bright star in the night sky in the southern hemisphere. It can be seen with the naked eye near to the Southern Cross in the constellation Crux on a clear night as a dark region devoid of stars. Autumn is the best time to see it in the Southern Hemisphere. (Northern Hemisphere observes will want to be positioned near the equater and look for it in the springtime.)

Caldwell 99 is roughly 100 light-years away from Earth and is 600 light-years away.