Rho Ophiuchi nebulae, infrared image. These nebulae, known as the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex, are located around 460 light years from Earth, on the bo

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Rho Ophiuchi nebulae, infrared image. These nebulae, known as the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex, are located around 460 light years from Earth, on the border between the constellations Ophiuchus and Scorpius. At centre is an emission nebula (white), with young stellar objects (YSOs, newly formed stars, pink) at left. At lower right, the star Sigma Scorpii lights up the reflection nebula (red) around it. The colours represent infrared light from background stars (blue) and from the gas and dust of nebulae (red and green). This image, published in 2011, was obtained by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE).

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Size: 4240px × 4157px
Photo credit: © NASA/JPL-CALTECH/UCLA/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: 2011, 21st, astronomical, astronomy, astrophysical, astrophysics, century, cloud, complex, dust, emission, evolution, explorer, formation, forming, galactic, gas, hydrogen, infrared, ir, l1688, nebula, nebulae, nursery, object, ophiuchi, ophiuchus, protostar, reflection, rho, scorpii, scorpius, sigma, space, star, starbirth, stars, stellar, survey, tauri, universe, wide-field, wise, young, yso