IC 4605, the Rho Ophiuchi Cloud Complex

IC 4605, the Rho Ophiuchi Cloud Complex in the constellation Ophiuchus.

This image is of molecular clouds and HII Gas Regions in the Sagittarius arm of our Milky Way Galaxy.

The blue and yellow clouds are reflection nebulae. These clouds get their colors from neighboring stars reflecting light off the dust in the clouds.

The red clouds are gas clouds of hydrogen gas. Radiation from hot neighboring stars excite the gas and cause it to glow red. These gas clouds are referred to as HII Regions or Hydrogen II Regions.

The dark brown and almost black clouds are dark nebulae or absorption nebulae. These nebulae are molecular clouds, composed primarily of molecular hydrogen, H2. Molecular clouds are stellar nurseries.

Image processed by Andrew Macica, original data from Telescope Live.

Imaging Details:

Observatory: Rio Hurtado Valley, Chile

Telescope: Nikon 200

Aperture: 100 mm (3.94 inches), f/2.0

Focal Length: 200 mm

Camera: FLI ML 16200 CCD

Filters: RGB

Total Exposure: 4 hours 35 min.

Image Processing: PixInsight 1.8.9-3 Ripley (x64);

BlurXTerminator, NoiseXTerminator, StarXTerminator (RC Astro);

Adobe Photoshop 25.12.4,

Adobe Lightroom Classic 15.1.1

Instruction on PixInsight from Adam Block Studios.