Antares and Rho Ophiuchi
Why is the
sky near Antares and Rho Ophiuchi so colorful?
The colors result from a mixture of objects and processes.
Fine dust illuminated from the front by starlight produces blue
reflection nebulae.
Gaseous clouds whose atoms are excited by ultraviolet starlight produce
reddish emission nebulae.
Backlit dust clouds block starlight and so
appear dark.
Antares, a red supergiant and one of the brighter stars in the night sky,
lights up the yellow-red clouds on the upper left.
Rho Ophiuchi
lies at the center of the blue nebula on the right. The distant
globular cluster M4 is visible just below
Antares,
and to the left of the red cloud engulfing Sigma Scorpii.
These star clouds are even more colorful than humans can see,
emitting light across the electromagnetic spectrum.