Media Information
 
 
 
Collection:
NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day Collection
Title:
Antares and Rho Ophiuchi
Explanation:
Why is the sky near Antares and Rho Ophiuchi [ http://www.seds.org…] so colorful? The colors result from a mixture of objects and processes. Fine dust illuminated from the front by starlight produces blue reflection nebulae [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…]. Gaseous clouds whose atoms are excited by ultraviolet starlight produce reddish emission nebulae [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…]. Backlit dust [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] clouds block starlight and so appear dark [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…]. Antares [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…], a red supergiant [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…http://adsabs.harva…] and one of the brighter stars in the night sky [ http://www.astro.wi…], lights up the yellow-red clouds on the upper left. Rho Ophiuchi [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] lies at the center of the blue nebula on the right. The distant globular cluster [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] M4 is visible just below Antares [ http://www.astro.wi…], and to the left of the red cloud engulfing Sigma Scorpii [ http://adsabs.harva…]. These star clouds are even more colorful than humans can see, emitting light across the electromagnetic spectrum [ http://heasarc.gsfc…].
Credit and Copyright:
D. Malin (AAO), AATB, ROE [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…http://www.roe.ac.u…], UKS Telescope [ http://www.roe.ac.u…]
facet_where:
Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)
facet_where:
Washington, D.C.
facet_what:
ANTARES
original url:
http://antwrp.gsfc.…
UID:
SPD-APOD-ap970922

Antares and Rho Ophiuchi
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