Apparent: 600' x 180' Actual: 50 x 15 light years (approximate)
Optimum Visibility
August
The Dark Lane is not a formally recognised object, and locating the object in the sky is therefore not a simple matter. The conventional coordinates for the object point toward a region of the sky in Cygnus, northward of Deneb and the North America Nebula, in which there are several dark lane-like structures. This image shows the largest and most prominent such structure, but other candidates in this area might also plausibly qualify for the name 'Dark Lane'. Imagery provided by Aladin sky atlas
* There is no definitive distance data available for this object, and the figure of three hundred light years given here is based on estimated distances to similar structures in the region, notably the Cygnus Rift. If the Dark Lane is signicantly closer, or farther away, this will necessarily affect the estimated length of the lane, given above as some fifty light years.
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