Serpens–Aquila Rift

The region forms part of the Great Rift, the nearby dark cloud of cosmic dust that obscures the middle of the galactic plane of the Milky Way, looking inwards and towards its other radial sectors.

[1] For radio sources the Serpens Main star cluster, parallax measurements from the VLBA give a distance of 415±15 pc.

[8] Observations by the Spitzer Space Telescope revealed the Serpens south stellar nursery within a dense molecular filament.

[10] Due to the large number of protostars and pre-stellar cores in the region, it is likely that Serpens South has the most star-formation activity in the Serpens-Aquila Rift.

[20] A number of possible "starless cores"—over-dense clumps of gas that may gravitationally collapse to form new stars—are also noted in this region, mostly studded along the molecular filaments.

[21] Millimeter observations from the IRAM 30m telescope provide confirmation for 46 of the starless-cores and Class 0/I protostars in the Westerhout 40 and Serpens south regions.

Map of the star local neighborhood within 1,000 pc (3,300 ly), the Sun is at the center. The Serpens–Aquila Rift is at 40° galactic longitude , from the center moving outwards to top-right.
The Milky Way as seen by Gaia, with prominent dark features labeled in white, as well as prominent star clouds labeled in black.
Main dark nebulae of the Solar apex half of the galactic plane , with the Aquila Rift on the right