RHO OPHIUCHUS REGION

NEBULAR CLOUDS COMPLEX

 (Image Centered at: 16.26 / dec -23:47)

September 2009, Mercedes Observatory Buenos Aires, Argentina

DATA

TYPE: Dark, reflection clouds

Apparent Magnitude: 4.63 for Rho Ophiuchus

Apparent Diameter: Picture is about 200 x 180 arc minutes

DISTANCE: IC 4604  520 lights years

IMAGE INFORMATION

SCOPE: Carl Zeiss Jena f2.8 stop at f4

CAMERA: SXVF H9

GUIDING: Orion ED 80

IMAGE ACQUISITION: AstroArt 3.0 - Control Interface 3.72 plug in

FILTERS: Astronomik Type II - Atik Filter Wheel

SKY CONDITIONS: rural skies - very humid

EXPOSURES: LRGB (40,20,20,20)

PROCESSING: Images Plus, CCD Sharp, Photoshop CS2

OBJECT DESCRIPTION AND IMAGE SESSION

One of the most colorful regions in the sky. Rho Ophiuchus is shown at the upper right and it is embedded with a bluish reflection nebula also known as IC 4604. This giant molecular cloud is one of the nearest from our Earth and it is believe is the result of a massive star explosion. The upper centre reflection nebula IC 4603 is also shown. Its bluish color merges with the orange which comes from the reflection of Antares stellar dust of. Two darks lanes or dark rivers can be seeing. Those patches are formed of dust which are obscuring background starlight all the way to the plane of the Milky way.

Again the blue channel of the lens has cause a lot of trouble in the processing. On top of that during the blue channel exposures some due came to the lens without notice. This type of object requires more exposure time and of course more resolution.

The total picture covers roughly 200 arc minutes