Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                                 2020 May 16

                          The Dark River to Antares
               Composite Image Credit & Copyright: Paul Schmit

   Explanation: A dark river seems to flow through this sky from the
   horizon toward colorful clouds near red giant star Antares. Murky
   looking, the dark river is a dusty nebula obscuring background
   starlight near the central Milky Way, although the dark dust nebula
   contains mostly hydrogen molecular gas. Dust scattering starlight
   around Antares, alpha star of Scorpius, creates the unusual yellow-hued
   reflection nebula. Above it, bright blue double star Rho Ophiuchi is
   embedded in more typical dusty bluish reflection nebulae, with red
   emission nebulae also scattered through the interstellar space.
   Globular star cluster M4 looks almost like a bright star just above and
   right of Antares, though it lies far behind the colorful clouds, at a
   distance of some 7,000 light-years. The dark river itself is about 500
   light years away. To create the startling night sky view, all
   background and foreground exposures were made back to back with the
   same camera and telephoto lens on the same night from the same
   location. In combination they produce a stunning image that reveals a
   range of brightness and color that your eye can't quite perceive.
   Recorded in the early hours of January 31, the composite also captures
   Mars still near the eastern horizon and rising to join rival Antares on
   the celestial stage. Bright Mars and its watery reflection are left of
   a lonely tree in the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, New
   Mexico, planet Earth.

                      Tomorrow's picture: up the spout
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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                             & Michigan Tech. U.

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