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« back to overview Nebulae Load higher resolution (1800 x 1200 Pixel ) (3500 x 3100 Pixel) Object description
The nebulae region around Antares, LDN 1681, 1689 and 1691, Messier 4 and NGC 6144
 

 
Short objct description

The surroundings of Antares, the brightest star in the Constellation Scorpio, is one of the most colorful regions in the sky. Besides typical blue reflection nebulae the red giant Antares also the dust surrounding it and produces a rare yellow Reflection nebula. In between are only weakly illuminated dark nebulae embedded. These absorb to a large extent the light of the far distant background stars and thus become "visible". On the right side, the blue star sigma Scorpii can cause a ionize part of the adjacent gases and is responsible for the red emission nebula responsible.
 
Each star associated with these nebulae belongs to a large group of young suns, the Scorpius-Centaurus Association. It lies at a distance of about 600 light years from the solar system. As a crowning finale, Messier 4 and NGC 6144 are two much more distant globular clusters in this line of sight.

« Click here to load a lager image with annotation and a comparison to the size of the Moon

More information about the star Antares we give here.

A wide angle view of the Antares nebula regions is shown here
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