An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics

Any of the several → dark clouds lying in the direction of the constellation → Lupus between → Galactic longitudes 334° < l < 352° and → Galactic latitudes +5° < b < +25°. In terms of angular extent the whole group is one of the largest low-mass star forming complexes on the sky, and it also contains one of the richest associations of → T Tauri stars. An average distance of about 150 pc places it among the nearest star forming regions, together with those in Corona Australis, Ophiuchus, Taurus-Auriga, and Chamaeleon (Comeron, 2008, in Handbook of Star Forming Regions Vol. II, PASP, Reipurth, ed.).

See also: → Lupus; → dark; → cloud.