Antares, Rho Ophiuchi, and the Blue Horse Head Nebula

Bob Fugate
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Antares, Rho Ophiuchi, and the Blue Horse Head Nebula
Antares, Rho Ophiuchi, and the Blue Horse Head Nebula

This region is one of the most beautiful and colorful regions of the sky. The bright yellow star, above center to the right, and the surrounding reflection nebula is Antares, the heart of the Scorpion in the constellation Scorpius. Just to the upper left of Antares is the globular cluster Messier 4. the deep blue glow of Rho Ophiuchi is to the lower left of Antares, illuminating dust and molecular clouds. At the lower left is the Blue Horsehead nebula. The red glows are hydrogen-alpha emission excited by the bright stars buried within giant expanses of hydrogen - the remnants of exploded stars. the entire region is rich in streamers of dust propelled by solar winds.

This image was shot in the Peralta Canyon region south east of Phoenix, Arizona, USA with a tripod mounted Star Adventurer sky tracker, astro-modified Nikon Z6 camera set to ISO 800, and a Sigma Art 105 mm camera lens set at f/2. The image was made from a stack of 90 30 second exposures, processed in PixInsight and Photoshop.

I stretched the image more than normal to show some of the detail in the molecular clouds and dust and to emphasize the colors in the emission and reflection nebulae.

Antares_Rho_Extreme stretch_Peralta_Spring_230520_RQFugate

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Taken on: June 28, 2023
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