APOD: Deepscape at Yacoraite (2021 May 08)

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APOD: Deepscape at Yacoraite (2021 May 08)

Post by APOD Robot » Sat May 08, 2021 4:05 am

Image Deepscape at Yacoraite

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 landscape made with the camera and lens fixed on the tripod. In combination they produce the single stunning image and reveal a range of brightness and color that your eye can't quite perceive on its own.

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Ann
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Re: APOD: Deepscape at Yacoraite (2021 May 08)

Post by Ann » Sat May 08, 2021 6:13 am

DeepscapeYacoraite1024[1].jpg
Deepscape at Yacoraite. Image Credit & Copyright: Franco Meconi.

What are we seeing in today's APOD?

Well, in the upper left quadrant we are seeing the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex. In fact, you can picture the whole thing as a horse, which is somehow missing much of its middle part. 🐎 But you can see its blue head, its yellow rump and its faint, very bushy pink tail. And you can see its long dark legs, stretching far away down to the plane of the Milky Way. Note that the horse is rearing its head.

Let's look a bit more at the picture by Keyu's Blog at right. The Blue Horse (or its head) at far left is centered on star Nu Scorpii. The eye of the Horse is staring at star Beta Scorpii. The bright blue blob in the middle of the horse is the large reflection nebula centered on Rho Ophiuchi. The blue star with a smallish ring of pink nebulosity around it is Sigma Scorpii. The yellow blob to the right of Sigma Scorpii is globular cluster M4. The bright yellow star which is sitting in a "sea of yellow" nebulosity is Antares. The blue star with a large faint blob of pink around it is Tau Scorpii.

And what is the bright yellow-orange "star" at lower center-left? Well, I guess it's Mars!

Here is another picture of the entire nebular horse-structure in Scorpius, minus Mars, which I think can be distracting. The picture is by Naskies.


In the picture at left you can see Mu1 and Mu2 Scorpii, two blue B-type stars that are so close together that the Khoikhoi people of South Africa call them xami di mura, 'eyes of the lion'. 👀
Wikipedia wrote:

In 2016, the IAU organized a Working Group on Star Names (WGSN) to catalog and standardize proper names for stars. The WGSN decided to attribute proper names to individual stars rather than entire multiple systems. It approved the name Xamidimura for the component Mu¹ Scorpii Aa on 5 September 2017 (along with Pipirima for the partner of Mu¹ Scorpii) and it is now so included in the List of IAU-approved Star Names.
The name Pipirima for Mu2 Scorpii refers to a legend about two children, a boy and a girl, who run away from their parents and become stars in the sky. 👫

In the picture at right by Tunc Tezel you can see Mu1 and Mu2 Scorpii at upper right. To the lower left of Mu1 and Mu2 Scorpii is cluster NGC 6242. To the lower left of NGC 6242 is red emission nebula IC 4628, and just above the trees you can see bright star cluster NGC 6231.

In the APOD, you can see Mu1 and Mu2 Scorpii at far right. To the right of them is cluster NGC 6242.

Ann
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Re: APOD: Deepscape at Yacoraite (2021 May 08)

Post by orin stepanek » Sat May 08, 2021 11:42 am

DeepscapeYacoraite1024.jpg

Beautiful view of Antares and Rho Ophiuchi! The area as viewed
from though is not the place I would like to live! :mrgreen: What
are the mists rising toward the sky? Smoke or vapor?
Orin

Smile today; tomorrow's another day!

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Re: APOD: Deepscape at Yacoraite (2021 May 08)

Post by NCTom » Sat May 08, 2021 12:25 pm

Ann, thanks for the tour through the photos. It makes them far more than just beautiful pictures.

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Re: APOD: Deepscape at Yacoraite (2021 May 08)

Post by Chris Peterson » Sat May 08, 2021 12:43 pm

orin stepanek wrote: Sat May 08, 2021 11:42 am Beautiful view of Antares and Rho Ophiuchi! The area as viewed
from though is not the place I would like to live! :mrgreen: What
are the mists rising toward the sky? Smoke or vapor?
Dust lanes in the Milky Way.
Chris

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orin stepanek
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Re: APOD: Deepscape at Yacoraite (2021 May 08)

Post by orin stepanek » Sat May 08, 2021 1:52 pm

Chris Peterson wrote: Sat May 08, 2021 12:43 pm
orin stepanek wrote: Sat May 08, 2021 11:42 am Beautiful view of Antares and Rho Ophiuchi! The area as viewed
from though is not the place I would like to live! :mrgreen: What
are the mists rising toward the sky? Smoke or vapor?
Dust lanes in the Milky Way.
Thanks Chris, I never thought to look at it that way! Makes sense! :yes:
Orin

Smile today; tomorrow's another day!

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Re: APOD: Deepscape at Yacoraite (2021 May 08)

Post by johnnydeep » Sat May 08, 2021 8:54 pm

Thanks, Ann, for the details (though I do miss the numbered annotations :ssmile:)

Here's another pretty image of the Rho Ophiuchi region:


It's from the WikiPedia link on the Rho Ophiuchi page to the pic courtesy of
Rogelio Bernal Andreo:
The binary star system Rho Ophiuchi. This star-forming region is located only 400 light years from Earth and is surrounded by a red emission nebula and numerous light and dark brown dust lanes. Nearby is the yellow star Antares while the globular cluster, M4, is visible between Antares and the red emission nebula. Toward the bottom can be found IC 4592, the Blue Horsehead nebula.
The 11 megapixel full image is stunning!
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"To B̬̻̋̚o̞̮̚̚l̘̲̀᷾d̫͓᷅ͩḷ̯᷁ͮȳ͙᷊͠ Go......Beyond The F͇̤i̙̖e̤̟l̡͓d͈̹s̙͚ We Know."{ʲₒʰₙNYᵈₑᵉₚ}

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Ann
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Re: APOD: Deepscape at Yacoraite (2021 May 08)

Post by Ann » Sun May 09, 2021 5:59 pm

johnnydeep wrote: Sat May 08, 2021 8:54 pm Thanks, Ann, for the details (though I do miss the numbered annotations :ssmile:)

Here's another pretty image of the Rho Ophiuchi region:


It's from the WikiPedia link on the Rho Ophiuchi page to the pic courtesy of
Rogelio Bernal Andreo:
The binary star system Rho Ophiuchi. This star-forming region is located only 400 light years from Earth and is surrounded by a red emission nebula and numerous light and dark brown dust lanes. Nearby is the yellow star Antares while the globular cluster, M4, is visible between Antares and the red emission nebula. Toward the bottom can be found IC 4592, the Blue Horsehead nebula.
The 11 megapixel full image is stunning!
Indeed, Johnny, that's a truly amazing image! :D

I was trying to post an annotated image of the Scorpius cloud complex earlier today, but somehow the picture vanished into hyperspace! I'll try again.

Cloud Complex in Scorpius annotated.png

1) Blue reflection nebula known as the Blue Horse, centered on Nu Scorpii (Nu Sco)

2) Star Beta Sco

3) Blue reflection nebula centered on Rho Ophiuchi

4) Small pink emission nebula centered on Sigma Scorpii

5) Globular cluster Messier 4

6) Yellow reflection nebula centered on red supergiant star Antares

7) Large faint pink emission nebula centered on Tau Scorpii

8) Long dust lanes that look like the legs of a horse

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Re: APOD: Deepscape at Yacoraite (2021 May 08)

Post by johnnydeep » Sun May 09, 2021 7:24 pm

Thanks, Ann - much appreciated! And just to close this out, here's your annotated pic alongside a rotated version of the wide-field image from Rogelio Bernal Andreo:

Rho Ophiuchi Region - Two Views
Rho Ophiuchi Region - Two Views
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"To B̬̻̋̚o̞̮̚̚l̘̲̀᷾d̫͓᷅ͩḷ̯᷁ͮȳ͙᷊͠ Go......Beyond The F͇̤i̙̖e̤̟l̡͓d͈̹s̙͚ We Know."{ʲₒʰₙNYᵈₑᵉₚ}

MuluTrail89

Re: APOD: Deepscape at Yacoraite (2021 May 08)

Post by MuluTrail89 » Mon May 10, 2021 4:37 am

A beautiful view!

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