Lockman Hole

Chandra X-ray Observatory mosaic of the X-ray sources in the Lockman Hole. Color code: Energy (red 0.4–2.0 keV, green 2–8 keV, blue 4–8 keV). Image is about 50 arcmin per side. Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/U. Wisconsin/A.Barger et al.; Illustrations: NASA/CXC/M.Weiss.

The Lockman Hole is an area of the sky in which minimal amounts of neutral hydrogen gas are observed from the perspective of Earth. The Lockman Hole is a relatively clear window on distant objects, which makes it an attractive area of the sky for observational astronomy surveys. It is located near the pointer stars of the Big Dipper in the constellation Ursa Major and is ~15 square degrees in size.[1][2]

The Lockman Hole is named after its discoverer, astronomer F. Jay Lockman.

  1. ^ "Is the Big Dipper scooping dark matter?". CSMonitor.com. 2011-02-18. Retrieved 2011-12-10.
  2. ^ "Lockman Hole". Encyclopedia of Science. Retrieved 2011-12-10.