Rho Ophiuchi Dark Cloud, Lynds 1688
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, with two long streamers trailing off in different directions. This false-color image of Rho Oph's main cloud, Lynds 1688, was created with data from Spitzer's infrared array camera. Blue represents micron light, green is micron light, orange is , and red is The multiple wavelengths reveal different aspects of the dust surrounding and between the embedded stars, yielding information about the stars and their birthplace. The colors in this image reflect the relative temperatures and evolutionary states of the various stars. These young disk systems show up as yellow-green tinted stars. 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.
Size: 4740px × 2287px
Photo credit: © Photo Researchers / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: 1688, array, astronomical, astronomy, body, camera, celestial, cloud, compact, dark, deep, evolutionary, heavenly, images, infrared, irac, lynds, mission, nebulae, object, oph, ophiuchi, rho, science, sky, space, spitzer, sst, stars, states, telescope
