The Aquila Rift is part of a dark expanse that splits the crowded plane of our Milky Way galaxy. It arcs through the northern hemisphere's summer skies near bright star Altair and Deneb, both part of the Summer Triangle. In silhouette against the Milky Way's faint starlight, its dusty molecular clouds likely contain raw material to form hundreds of thousands of stars. Astonomers are hoping to be able to see the birth of stars for the first time with an improved telescope. These clouds are estimated to be around 600 light years away.
