Antares and glowing clouds of gas
Antares is a red supergiant star in the constellation Scorpius, the scorpion. Antares represents the heart of the animal, perhaps due in part to its color. Two open star clusters appear to be nearby--if Antares is the center of a clock, a large cluster is seen at 2:30 and a smaller, closer cluster at 1:00.
Antares is both bright and conspicuously red or red/orange, and nearby gaseous clouds take on that color.
The bright star twice the distance of the large star cluster at 2:00 is Alniyat, which illuminates both blue and red clouds. Directly above Antares in this photo is 5-Oph, and it is embedded in a cloud that glows blue, near dense, cold clouds that do not glow and block light from stars behind them.
Antares is much larger than our sun. If Antares was at the center of our solar system, its outer perimeter would be between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter--that is, instead of being 93 million miles from the sun, we would be inside of Antares.
This cluster of stars and clouds can be seen all summer, just to the right of the Milky Way above the southern horizon.
This post is a composite of 47 exposures, each 120 sec, f/4.0, ISO 1600, composited by Starry Sky Stacker. Photographed from the rim of the Little Grand Canyon on the San Rafael Swell.
Antares and glowing clouds of gas
Antares is a red supergiant star in the constellation Scorpius, the scorpion. Antares represents the heart of the animal, perhaps due in part to its color. Two open star clusters appear to be nearby--if Antares is the center of a clock, a large cluster is seen at 2:30 and a smaller, closer cluster at 1:00.
Antares is both bright and conspicuously red or red/orange, and nearby gaseous clouds take on that color.
The bright star twice the distance of the large star cluster at 2:00 is Alniyat, which illuminates both blue and red clouds. Directly above Antares in this photo is 5-Oph, and it is embedded in a cloud that glows blue, near dense, cold clouds that do not glow and block light from stars behind them.
Antares is much larger than our sun. If Antares was at the center of our solar system, its outer perimeter would be between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter--that is, instead of being 93 million miles from the sun, we would be inside of Antares.
This cluster of stars and clouds can be seen all summer, just to the right of the Milky Way above the southern horizon.
This post is a composite of 47 exposures, each 120 sec, f/4.0, ISO 1600, composited by Starry Sky Stacker. Photographed from the rim of the Little Grand Canyon on the San Rafael Swell.