Thackerays Globules . ... Situated in rich star fields and glowing hydrogen gas, these opaque clouds of interstellar dust and gas are so large they might be able to form stars. Their home is known as IC 2944 , a bright stellar nursery located about 5,900 light years away toward the constellation of Centaurus . The largest of these dark globules , first spotted by South African astronomer A. D. Thackeray in 1950, is likely two separate but overlapping clouds, each more than one light-year wide. ...