Description:
RCW 87 and RCW 88 are two faint emission nebulae hidden deep within the rich star fields and dark dust lanes of the southern Milky Way, in the constellation Circinus. Both objects are H II regions — glowing clouds of ionized hydrogen where young stars are forming within dense molecular clouds.
RCW 87 appears as a small elongated nebula crossed by dark interstellar dust, giving it a fragmented and textured appearance in deep narrowband images. Distance estimates vary, but it is thought to lie several thousand light-years away along the Sagittarius spiral arm of our galaxy.
Nearby RCW 88 is slightly brighter and more structured, divided by a prominent dark lane that splits the glowing gas into two sections.