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Credit & Copyright: Paul Schmit
Explanation:
A dark river seems to flow through this sky from the horizon toward
colorful clouds near red giant star Antares.
Murky looking, the dark river is a dusty
nebula obscuring background starlight near the central Milky Way,
although the dark dust nebula contains mostly hydrogen molecular gas.
Dust scattering starlight around
Antares,
alpha star of Scorpius, creates the unusual yellow-hued
reflection nebula.
Above it, bright blue double star
Rho Ophiuchi is
embedded in more typical dusty bluish reflection nebulae, with
red emission nebulae also scattered through the interstellar space.
Globular star cluster M4 looks almost like a bright star
just above and right of Antares,
though it lies far behind the colorful clouds, at a distance of some
7,000 light-years.
The dark river itself is about 500 light years away.
To create the startling night sky view, all background and foreground
exposures were made back to back
with the same camera and telephoto lens on the same night from the same
location.
In
combination they produce
a stunning image that reveals
a range of brightness and color that your eye can't quite
perceive.
Recorded in the early hours of January 31,
the composite also captures Mars still near the eastern horizon and
rising to join rival Antares on
the
celestial stage.
Bright Mars and its watery reflection are left of a lonely tree in the
Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, New Mexico,
planet Earth.
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: Antares
Publications with words: Antares
See also: