Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2019 August 27
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Dark Dust and Colourful Clouds near Antares
Image Credit: David McGarvey

Explanation: Why is the sky near Antares and Rho Ophiuchi so dusty yet colourful? The colours result from a mixture of objects and processes. Fine dust illuminated from the front by starlight produces blue reflection nebulae. Gaseous clouds whose atoms are excited by ultraviolet starlight produce reddish emission nebulae. Backlit dust clouds block starlight and so appear dark. Antares, a red supergiant and one of the brighter stars in the night sky, lights up the yellow-red clouds on the lower left of the featured image. Rho Ophiuchi lies at the centre of the blue nebula near the top. The distant globular cluster M4 is visible to the right of Antares. These star clouds are even more colourful than humans can see, emitting light across the electromagnetic spectrum.

Tomorrow's picture: galaxy portrait


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