The colourful region around yellow Antares (bottom) in Scorpius and blue Rho Ophiuchi (top) in Ophiuchus. The nebulas are largely reflection nebulas, taking on the colour of the stars embedded in the nebulas. However, the field also contains a lot of emission nebulosity, hydrogen gas glowing red and magenta. Plus there are fingers of brown dark dusty nebulosity. It is one of the most colourful regions of the sky.

antares emission nebula ic 4605 m4 messier 4 ngc 6144 ophiuchus portrait reflection nebula rho ophiuchi scorpius globular cluster sky astronomy astro photography skies science nature astro