The Panther is actually a Bok globule in the Rosette 4500 light years distant in the constellation of Monoceros. Bok globules are dark, dense molecular clouds from which star formation can take place. These were first observed by Bart Bok in the 1940’s. Bok speculated that these clouds were ‘similar to insect’s cocoons’ and would give way to new stars and star clusters as they underwent gravitational collapse.