Rho Ophiuchi and Antares
“Runner Up” of the “Deep Space” category in the Royal Observatory Greenwich’s Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2013 exhibition, this beautiful space wallpaper shows Rho Ophiuchi and Antares Nebulae.
Two Molecular Clouds
The Pipe Nebula (left) and Rho Ophiuchi molecular clouds (right) are shown in this image of the Milky Way galaxy. Each inset map shows the extent to which the light of background stars dims as it passes through the clouds. These maps form the basis of the three-dimensional reconstruction of cloud structure from which the astronomers derived a so-called "recipe for star formation." [Full Story: Simple Recipe for Star Formation Revealed]
Rare Space Molecules Point Toward Star Nurseries
The Rho Ophiuchi dark cloud is a star-forming region about 400 light-years from Earth. The inset shows spectra of the rare molecule H2D+, detected with the APEX telescope in Chile, overlaid onto an infrared image of this region. [Full Story: Rare Space Molecules Point Toward Star Nurseries]
Newborn 'Flying Saucer' Star
The young star 2MASS J16281370-2431391 lies in the Rho Ophiuchi star formation region, about 400 light-years from Earth. It is surrounded by a protoplanetary disk of gas and dust that is seen nearly edge-on from Earth; the disk's appearance in visible-light images has led to its being nicknamed the Flying Saucer. The main image shows part of the Rho Ophiuchi region; an enlarged close-up infrared view of the Flying Saucer from the Hubble Space Telescope is shown as an insert. [Full Story: Planet-Building 'Flying Saucer' Disk Is Surprisingly Cool (Video)]
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