Hier ist wahrhaftig ein Loch im Himmel - The NGC 1999 dark globule is not a globule

The NGC1999 reflection nebula features a dark patch with a size of ~10 000 AU, which has been interpreted as a small, dense foreground globule and possible site of imminent star formation. We present Herschel PACS far-infrared 70 and 160 μmmaps, which reveal a flux deficit at the location of the globule. We estimate the globule mass needed to produce such an absorption feature to be a few tenths to a few M_⊙. Inspired by this Herschel observation, we obtained APEX LABOCA and SABOCA submillimeter continuum maps, and Magellan PANIC near-infrared images of the region. We do not detect a submillimer source at the location of the Herschel flux decrement; furthermore our observations place an upper limit on the mass of the globule of ~2.4×10^(−2) M_⊙. Indeed, the submillimeter maps appear to show a flux depression as well. Furthermore, the near–infrared images detect faint background stars that are less affected by extinction inside the dark patch than in its surroundings. We suggest that the dark patch is in fact a hole or cavity in the material producing the NGC1999 reflection nebula, excavated by protostellar jets from the V380 Ori multiple system.