Rho-Antares Region (DSLR)

Click to Zoom

The Rho-Antares region — the colorful clouds around Rho Ophiuchi, Antares, and globular cluster M4 — in a wide DSLR field, one of five images taken during a summer astrophysics workshop. Also from that session: M31, the Lagoon/Trifid region, the M16/M17 region, and the North America and Pelican region. This image is also covered in a blog post.

Location: Comanche Springs Astronomy Campus

Date: June 2018

Scope/Mount: Takahashi FSQ-85ED ("Baby-Q") apo refractor @ f/5.3 on a Takahashi NJP mount

Camera: Nikon D810a DSLR

Exposure Info: 22 minutes total (2 minute subs, ISO 1600)

Extra Notes: Unattended and unguided -- polar aligned and pointed manually with the finder scope, then left to run on an on-camera intervalometer while the "Astrophysics in a Nutshell" workshop students worked on other things. The shortest exposure of the four, and still a colorful result.

About this Image

The region around Antares and Rho Ophiuchi is one of the most colorful in the sky -- glowing red and orange dust reflecting off nearby stars in shades of yellow and blue, all near the bright globular cluster M4. It rewards even short exposures because there's simply so much color and structure packed into a small area.

This was one of several simple, unattended data sets I shot for students at the workshop to practice their processing on -- about as close to "point and shoot" as astrophotography gets, and a good reminder of how much dark skies alone can do for you.

🤖 AI-drafted · unverified

What it is: A richly colored complex of reflection and dark nebulosity surrounding the red supergiant Antares and the star Rho Ophiuchi, with the globular cluster M4 nearby -- one of the closest and most colorful star-forming/dust regions to Earth.
Constellation: Ophiuchus / Scorpius border
Distance: ~400–550 ly (Rho Ophiuchi cloud); ~550 ly (Antares); ~7,200 ly (M4)
Apparent magnitude: 1.1 (Antares); 5.9 (M4)
Angular size: Several degrees across the full cloud complex
Coordinates: Antares: RA 16h 29m 24s, Dec -26° 26′

This summary was generated by an AI assistant from general astronomical references, not from Jay's own notes on this specific image. Treat every detail above as a starting point for research, not settled fact.