Explanation:
Connecting the
Pipe Nebula to the colorful regon near
bright star Antares is a dark cloud dubbed the
Dark River,
flowing from the picture's left edge.
Murky looking, the
Dark River's appearance is caused by
dust
obscuring background starlight, although the dark nebula
contains mostly
hydrogen and
molecular gas.
Surrounded by dust,
Antares,
a red supergiant star, creates an unusual bright yellowish
reflection nebula.
Above it, bright blue double star
Rho
Ophiuchi is embedded in one
of the more typical
bluish reflection nebulae, while
red emission nebulae
are also scattered around the region.
Globular star cluster M4 is just seen 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.
The colorful skyscape
is a mosaic of telescopic images spanning nearly
10 degrees (20 Full Moons) across the sky in the constellation
Scorpius.
digg_url = 'http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap090708.html'; digg_skin = 'compact';
