Explanation:
The clouds surrounding the star system Rho Ophiuchi compose one of the closest star forming regions.
Rho Ophiuchi itself is a
binary star system visible in the
light-colored region on the image right.
The star system, located only 400
light years away, is distinguished by its
colorful surroundings,
which include a red
emission nebula and numerous
light and dark brown dust lanes.
Near the upper right of the Rho Ophiuchi
molecular cloud system is the yellow star
Antares, while a distant but coincidently-superposed
globular cluster of stars,
M4, is visible between Antares and the red
emission nebula.
Near the image bottom lies IC 4592, the
Blue Horsehead nebula.
The blue glow that surrounds the Blue Horsehead's eye -- and other stars around the image -- is a reflection nebula composed of fine dust.
On the
above image left is a geometrically angled reflection nebula
cataloged as
Sharpless 1.
Here, the bright star near the dust vortex creates the light of surrounding
reflection nebula.
Although most of
these features are visible through a small telescope pointed toward the constellations of
Ophiuchus,
Scorpius, and
Sagittarius, the only way to see the intricate details of the dust swirls, as featured above, is to use a
long exposure camera.
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