Rho Ophiuchi molecular Cloud

A Deep look into Rho Ophiuchi

Located on the border between Ophiuchus and Scorpius lies one of the nearest star-forming regions to Earth at a distance of 460 light-years. This colorful molecular cloud contains both star forming regions, ionized hydrogen and faint dust that is illuminated by nearby stars. Several bright blue stars including the Rho Ophiuchi system can be seen that also appear embedded in dust and give off a ghostly blue hue. Far in the background are globular clusters that can be seen orbiting the galaxy beyond the spiral arms and consist of thousands of tightly bound stars, Messier 80 is one such globular cluster. This is one of the most beautiful deep sky objects in the summer night sky, but is rarely photographed from the northern hemisphere.

Data acquired from Telescope Live

Image Acquisition Details

Telescope Live remote Imaging AUS-2 CMOS

telescope: Takahashi FSQ-106ED (382 mm, 106 mm, f/3.6)

Accessories: Paramount MX+, f/3.6 0.73x focal reducer

Camera: QHY 600M Pro

Filters: Astrodon Luminance, Red, Green, Blue

Guiding: N/A

Location: Heaven's Mirror Observatory, Yass, NSW 2582, Australia

Sky conditions: Bortle 1

Processing: Siril processing

Integration time: (Luminance: 39x300s, Red: 36x300s, Green: 37x300s, Blue: 24x300s)

Total integration time: 11 hours, 20 minutes