Taken from a dark sky location in the Extremadura, Spain, the Rho Opiuchi Complex is one of the most colourful regions of the night sky. Difficult conditions limited the amount of data nevertheless this wonderful rendition could be achieved. The area consists of reflection nebula (yellow/blue), emission nebula (magenta), dark nebula and two star clusters, M4 and NGC 6144. Although reflection nebula are usually blueish in colour (for the same reason the sky is blue), the region around the bright star Antares reflects the colour of this old, red, super giant. The Complex is in the constellation of Scorpius and being “only” 427 light years distant is one of the closest star forming regions of the Milky Way galaxy to Earth. The larger star cluster, M4 (Messier 4), is approximately 6000 light years away.
TS94EDPH (with Reducer)
10Micron GM1000 HPS
SIGMA fp L (colour)
ca. 1.5 hrs, ISO 400, F4.4, 414mm