The Rho Ophiuchi nebula is one of the most beautiful and colorful star-forming regions in the night sky, located about 400–460 light-years away from Earth in the constellation Ophiuchus. It’s actually a complex of different types of nebulae — reflection, emission, and dark nebulae — all interacting in a dynamic region of space.
The region is an active stellar nursery, where young stars are still forming inside the dense molecular clouds. It’s relatively close in cosmic terms, making it an ideal laboratory for studying early star formation, protoplanetary disks, and stellar evolution.
The image can resemble a prehistoric fight between two velociraptors, due to the shape of the dark nebulae present in this area; an extinct species (late cretaceous period) that became an iconic character in the Jurassic Park series of movies.
Last austral winter 2024 I took part in a fantastic trip to Namibia organized by Parc Astronòmic Muntanyes dde Prades. There we were able to capture many southern targets such as the one shown above. The image was captured using the mosaic technique by Imma Garrofé and Josep Puche. The processing was done by myself as a quick exercise of almost perfect data captured from a Bortle 1 dark sky.
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Image Details
RGB: (20 x 300″ + 60 x 30″) each of the 4 panels
Calibrated with darks, flats. dark-flats.
Total exposure: 8h 40′
Moon at 1%
Sky darkness: 22,05 mag/arcsec2
Equipment
Askar V 60mm 270mm FL + ASI2600MC + ZWO EAF
ZWO AM5 mount
ASI AIR Plus
Guiding with ASI220MM mini and ZWO Mini Guide Scope
Software
ASI Air, APP, PIX, PS.
Acquisition: Imma Garrofé and Josep Puche
Processing: Aleix Roig, April 2025.
Tivoli Astrofarm, Namibia.