Pipe Nebula: Trying to look into the center of our galaxy, Milky Way, is a useless endeavour, since thick dust clouds prevent visible light to reach us from this direction. One thinks to look into dark crevices in the sky, which cannot be penetrated.One of the best known Dark Nebula in the direction of the galactic center is Pipe Nebula in the constellation of Ophiuchus, which seems to resemble a smoking pipe. The image shows the intricate structures in this dark region covered with dust and molecular clouds, which are also very often cradles of new stars.

In the upper part of the image another well known Dark Nebula can be observed with its winding shape: Snake Nebula.