Rho Ophiuchi Cloud Complex, Dark Nebula
Rho Ophiuchi dark cloud from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. Rho Oph is a complex made up of a large main cloud of molecular hydrogen, a key molecule allowing new stars to form from cold cosmic gas, with two long streamers trailing off in different directions. Recent studies using the latest X-ray and infrared observations reveal more than 300 young stellar objects within the large central cloud. This false-color image of Rho Oph's main cloud, Lynds 1688, was created with data from Spitzer's infrared array camera. The colors in this image reflect the relative temperatures and evolutionary states of the various stars. The youngest stars are surrounded by dusty disks of gas from which they, and their potential planetary systems, are forming. These young disk systems show up as yellow-green tinted stars in this image. More evolved stars, which have shed their natal material, are blue-white. The extended white nebula in the center right of the image is a region of the cloud which is glowing in infrared light due to the illumination of dust by bright young stars near the right edge of the cloud. Red and pink diffuse emission from carbon-rich dust molecules fills the image.
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Photo credit: © Photo Researchers / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
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Keywords: 1688, astronomical, astronomy, astrophotography, cloud, complex, dark, dust, gas, image, infrared, lynds, nebula, newborn, oph, ophiuch, ophiuchi, photography, region, rho, sart, space, spitzer, sst, star, star-forming, telescope
