Colorful nebula and stars fill the wide images. The yellow star Antares is visible on the left and blue reflection nebula surround a central nebula and the nebula on the right surrounding the Rho Ophiuchi star system. Please see the explanation for more detailed information.
色彩斑斓的星云和恒星填满了这幅宽广的图像。左侧是黄色的恒星心宿二，蓝色的反射星云环绕着中央星云，右侧的星云环绕着心宿增四恒星系统。有关更多详细信息，请参阅说明。
2022年1月26日 Stars, Dust, and Gas Near Antares Image Credit & Copyright: Mario Cogo (Galax Lux) Explanation: Why is the sky near Antares and Rho Ophiuchi so dusty yet colorful? The colors result from a mixture of objects and processes. Fine dust — illuminated from the front by starlight — produces blue reflection nebulae. Gaseous clouds whose atoms are excited by ultraviolet starlight produce reddish emission nebulae. Backlit dust clouds block starlight and so appear dark. Antares, a red supergiant and one of the brighter stars in the night sky, lights up the yellow-red clouds on the lower right of the featured image. The Rho Ophiuchi star system lies at the center of the blue reflection nebula on the top left. The distant globular cluster of…
2021年05月08日 Deepscape at Yacoraite Image Credit & Copyright: Franco Meconi Explanation: In this evocative night scene a dusty central Milky Way rises over the ancient Andean archaeological site of Yacoraite in northwestern Argentina. The denizens of planet Earth reaching skyward are the large Argentine saguaro cactus currently native to the arid region. The unusual yellow-hued reflection nebula above is created by dust scattering starlight around red giant star Antares. Alpha star of the constellation Scorpius, Antares is over 500 light-years distant. Next to it bright blue Rho Ophiuchi is embedded in more typical dusty bluish reflection nebulae though. The deep night skyscape was created from a series of background exposures of the rising stars made while tracking the sky, and a foreground exposure of the…
2020年10月14日 The Colorful Clouds of Rho Ophiuchi Image Credit & Copyright: Amir H. Abolfath Explanation: The many spectacular colors of the Rho Ophiuchi (oh’-fee-yu-kee) clouds highlight the many processes that occur there. The blue regions shine primarily by reflected light. Blue light from the Rho Ophiuchi star system and nearby stars reflects more efficiently off this portion of the nebula than red light. The Earth’s daytime sky appears blue for the same reason. The red and yellow regions shine primarily because of emission from the nebula’s atomic and molecular gas. Light from nearby blue stars – more energetic than the bright star Antares – knocks electrons away from the gas, which then shines when the electrons recombine with the gas. The dark brown regions are…
