Astronomy Picture of the Day [1]Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2020 May 16 [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available. The Dark River to Antares Composite Image Credit & [3]Copyright: [4]Paul Schmit Explanation: A dark river seems to flow through this sky from the horizon toward [5]colorful clouds near red giant star Antares. Murky looking, the dark river is a dusty nebula obscuring background starlight near the central Milky Way, although the dark dust nebula contains mostly hydrogen molecular gas. Dust scattering starlight around [6]Antares, alpha star of Scorpius, creates the unusual yellow-hued reflection nebula. Above it, bright blue double star [7]Rho Ophiuchi is embedded in more typical dusty bluish reflection nebulae, with red emission nebulae also scattered through the interstellar space. Globular star cluster M4 looks almost like a bright star just 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. To create the startling night sky view, all background and foreground [8]exposures were made back to back with the same camera and telephoto lens on the same night from the same location. [9]In combination they produce a stunning image that reveals a range of brightness and color that your eye can't quite [10]perceive. Recorded in the early hours of January 31, the composite also captures Mars still near the eastern horizon and rising to join rival Antares on [11]the celestial stage. Bright Mars and its watery reflection are left of a lonely tree in the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, New Mexico, [12]planet Earth. Tomorrow's picture: up the spout __________________________________________________________________ [13]< | [14]Archive | [15]Submissions | [16]Index | [17]Search | [18]Calendar | [19]RSS | [20]Education | [21]About APOD | [22]Discuss | [23]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [24]Robert Nemiroff ([25]MTU) & [26]Jerry Bonnell ([27]UMCP) NASA Official: Phillip Newman [28]Specific rights apply. [29]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices A service of: [30]ASD at [31]NASA / [32]GSFC & [33]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2005/Reflections_APOD.jpg 3. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 4. https://www.paulschmitphotography.com/ 5. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap160705.html 6. http://stars.astro.illinois.edu/sow/antares.html 7. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rho_Ophiuchi 8. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2005/Reflections_source_images.gif 9. https://www.facebook.com/groups/nightscaper/permalink/2399869776990601/ 10. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap130411.html 11. https://www.paulschmitphotography.com/How-To-Guides/Capturing-Galaxyset 12. https://climate.nasa.gov/earth-now/#/ 13. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200515.html 14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 15. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 17. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss 20. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 22. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=200516 23. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200517.html 24. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 25. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 26. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 27. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 28. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 29. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 30. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 31. https://www.nasa.gov/ 32. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 33. http://www.mtu.edu/