The Rho Ophiuchi Cloud Complex

Image Title: The Rho Ophiuchi Cloud Complex

Copyright: Chris Willocks / Telescope Live

Date image was taken: March 10, 2024

Location: Heaven's Mirror Observatory, Australia.

Image Description and Details: The Rho Ophiuchi cloud is a complex of interstellar clouds with different nebulae, particularly a dark nebula which is centered 1° south of the star ρ Ophiuchi, which it among others extends to, of the constellation Ophiuchus. At an estimated distance of about 460 light-years, it is one of the closest star-forming regions to the Solar System.

This cloud covers an angular area of 4.5° × 6.5° on the celestial sphere. It consists of two major regions of dense gas and dust. The first contains a star-forming cloud (L1688) and two filaments (L1709 and L1755), while the second has a star-forming region (L1689) and a filament (L1712–L1729). These filaments extend up to 10–17.5 parsecs in length and can be as narrow as 0.24 parsecs in width. The large extensions of the complex are also called Dark River clouds (or Rho Ophiuchi Streamers) and are identified as Barnard 44 and 45. Some of the structures within the complex appear to be the result of a shock front passing through the clouds from the direction of the neighbouring Sco OB2 association.

Image details:
- Exposure: 20h30m.
- Acquisition: Image data acquired remotely using the Telescope Live AUS-2 telescope.
- Processing: PixInsight & Adobe Photoshop.

Equipment Details: - Optics: Takahashi FSQ-106EDX.
- Camera: FLI PL16083 CCD.
- Filters: Astrodon LRGB.

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