Welcome to Learn the Sky! We release new videos every Tuesday, where we will be exploring the sky
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to learn about free lessons we offer and classes released each season. Ophiuccus the serpent bearer
can be a challenging constellation to find if you live in an area with lots of light pollution. If
you can always try to seek out dark skies when trying to find it. Ophiuchus also has a wide
variety of celestial objects that sit within the boundaries of this constellation. In this
video we will explore one particular region of Ophiuchus called the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex.
Here is the official star map of Ophiuchus, and it's represented as a serpent bearer. Although
Ophiuchus is not among the 12 traditional constellations of the zodiac, the sun does
pass through its southern extremities for around two weeks each year in early december.
You can see that represented by this blue line right here. So I said it's a seasonal
constellation but technically it could be classified as a zodiacal constellation since
the Sun passes through its boundaries. In fact the sun spends more time in Ophiuchus than it does in
Scorpius. When trying to find this constellation this is a great map to help you direct your way.
You have Scorpius right here, you have Sagittarius here taking the shape of that Teapot asterism.
Here's the handle, here's the spout, and here's the lid. Here's the pot portion of the Teapot, and above
it you have Ophiuchus, and if you compare the stars, the magnitude of the stars or the size of them,
you can see that Scorpius and Sagittarius are brighter in magnitude or brightness when compared
to Ophiuchus. So you want to try to find Scorpius in order to find Ophiuchus. So the area we're going
to focus on today is this particular region right here, called the Rho Ophiuchi Cloud Complex. On this
map this shows you all the different celestial objects that are located within Ophiuchus, and you
can see that it has a lot in it particularly a lot of globular clusters that are represented by these
circles with crosses in them, there's also a distant galaxy, planetary nebula right here,
and then here's another one here, but the area we're going to focus on is right here, and just
to give you a taste of everything that is here or really just a small portion of it we have a
planetary nebulae, there are globular clusters right here, there's also a dark nebulae here
called Barnard 59, and this is the area we will focus on. Ophiuchus in general sits really close
by to the heart of the Milky Way galaxy, which is why you're seeing all kinds of different celestial
objects in this particular area. Before we explore the Rho Ophiuchi Cloud Complex it's good to take
a look at a map just to get an idea of what's going on. So we'll start with this map and then
move on to different pictures, so as you're looking at this map you can see that this cloud complex
is broken up into two different constellations. We have Scorpius, and then Ophiuchus. The largest
star here is Antares, and that's the brightest star in the constellation of Scorpius. It's a
reddish color and it is really what is causing all this green area to glow from the different gases
that are surrounding this particular area, and this is a young stellar nursery, and it's fairly
close to our own solar system. These areas right here, these two yellow dots right here, those are
globular clusters and then these white outlines right here are dark areas of this particular
complex. So if we were to look at a picture kind of side by side here, you can see this is where
Antares is, it almost looks kind of like a pentagon shape, but then it also has this star right here,
and you can see where these clouds kind of jet off from this cloud complex. So let's dig in a little
further to take a look at what this particular area is doing and how much there is to see.
So at this particular photo we are looking at a series of constellations. We have Sagittarius
in this area, we also have Scorpius in this area and Ophiuchus here, this is an incredible picture
because it's a mosaic from over 50 different fields taken with about three different types of
filter and then these images were all stitched together, the link is below for you to access
where this picture is, but we're going to focus on this particular area, and the Rho Ophiuchi cloud
complex is classified as an emission, reflection, and absorption nebula. If you want to learn
about what those different types of nebulae are go ahead and watch that video, the link is listed.
It's estimated to be 420 light years away, and if we were to zoom into this particular area
this is what you would see. Now even if you were to look at this area with a telescope or
a pair of binoculars it wouldn't look like this, this is a image that's been processed over time
and it's a long exposure photograph, so all these clouds are able to show up on the camera over time.
So to point out everything that's going on here, first we'll start with Antares this is this
bright red star but it looks a little yellowish here because of the cloud
cover that is around in this particular region. We also have two globular clusters Messier 4
is a globular cluster right here, and then NGC 6144, this is another star this is part
of Scorpius, here is another star, Scorpio star, kind of reminds me of a little mickey mouse right there.
So there's really cool images that you can explore about this particular region, and it's a
stellar nursery, so there's a lot of young star formation that's happening within this region.
If we want to take a look at another version of what this looks like... Can you take a look
at this picture and start to identify the different areas within this cloud complex?
Here we have Antares, that's the brightest star in Scorpius. Here we have M4 or messier
4, that's a globular cluster, and really right here that's the tiny little globular cluster
that this one's at a farther distance than this one would be. So those are the
main features that I try to look for whenever I'm aiming my binoculars at this particular
region, and just to label where everything is this is the part of this cloud complex that's
in Ophiucus, and then this part is in Scorpius. So this whole cloud complex really was is in
located in two different constellations, and of course you can't miss these dark areas right here.
This is where light is being absorbed, so it cannot be it cannot pass through this particular region.
We'll take a look at another photo here. Are you able to identify the different areas? Here we have
Antares, M4, here's um that little star that looks like a mickey mouse head upside down to me,
and then you have these long jets of gas that are blocking light from passing through it. Here's
another great picture we have, and this picture is in visible light so you can see that many of the
stars in this particular region are being hidden from the clouds that are here, and this right here
is where there are newborn stars here, so it's starting to glow more in that particular region,
and if we take a look at this picture this photo was taken by the Spitzer Telescope,
and what we're seeing here is this particular region with infrared wavelengths. So you can see
different features when you look at this cloud complex through different types of wavelength.
So as you go outside and explore this particular region in Ophiuchus I encourage you to do so even
though you may not really see what we're seeing in these pictures, because all of these pictures are a
composite of all the different celestial objects that are within this particular constellation.
So here we again, we have Ophiuchus, and the region that you're going to be looking for is right down
here. You want to look for Antares, and then there's little globular cluster right here, those are the
those are the features that will really stand out to you. So I wish you luck, enjoy viewing
this particular celestial object, and remember you have to go outside. Keep practicing! It takes
time and patience to be able to successfully stargaze. I wish you luck and keep looking up!