February 22, 2015
The universe does not repeat itself. Every sunrise is unique, every snowflake singular, and every birthday yours alone.
The Dark River to Antares
Birthday · February 22, 2015
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APOD published February 22, 2015. Credit: Jason Jennings. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
Connecting the Pipe Nebula to the colorful region near bright star Antares is a dark cloud dubbed the Dark River, flowing from the picture's left edge. Murky looking, the Dark River's appearance is caused by dust obscuring background starlight, although the dark nebula contains mostly hydrogen and molecular gas. Surrounded by dust, Antares, a red supergiant star, creates an unusual bright yellowish reflection nebula. Above it, bright blue double star Rho Ophiuchi is embedded in one of the more typical bluish reflection nebulae, while red emission nebulae are also scattered around the region. Globular star cluster M4 is just seen 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. The colorful skyscape is a mosaic of telescopic images spanning nearly 10 degrees (20 Full Moons) across the sky in the constellation of the Scorpion (Scorpius). Follow APOD on: Facebook, Google Plus, or Twitter
Image credit: Jason Jennings