Antares in the cloud of Rho Ophiuchi
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Copyright: Adam Jesionkiewicz
Hi res:
http://astropolis.pl/uploads/post-158-0 ... 017320.jpg
Description:
This is the first photo from South Africa that I wanted to present. Probably the best photo I have ever done in my entire career. Regardless of the comments (welcome as always), I am extremely satisfied with this picture. Why?
Since I remember, I always dreamed of taking a picture of this object. This is one of the icons of the southern sky and in my opinion the most beautiful and colorful object seen from Earth. When I was working on source material, I had to keep my imagination tethered, because in this picture the color is coming out practically everywhere. If anyone thinks that these reds are some kind of amp-glow or gradients, then I want to calm down - there is no gram of such defects there. The color is evenly balanced and what's coming out there are elements of the missing part of the Rho Ophiuchi complex that spills over an area of more than 5 degrees in the constellation of the Ophiuchi - just 1 degree from the binary star system ρ Ophiuchi (two blue subgigants whose 3.1 angle separation is possible for visual observation).
The brightest and most yellow star is of course Antares. In the naked eye she looks unnaturally. It is very yellow, which reminds of the suspended Chinese lantern. You can not go wrong with any other star. This color is probably due to the obscuration of the star through dust clouds (in the observation line).
This hot (13-22 K.) dust and gas complex has a mass of 3,000 times our sun. There are probably many new stars out there, as we are already seeing a lot of young ones (100 thousand years - 1 million years old).
Camera exposure ZWO ASI071MCC - 3.5 hours, APO71Q f4.9, iOptron CEM25-EC, South Africa (taken near SALT observatory, Sutherland)
It is difficult to tear your eyes off this starfield. Real genesis.
And I just checked one item from my private "bucket list". Whew ...