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Mosaic of Jupiter and the large Antares nebula region
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Description of object:
The surrounding of Antares, the
brightest star in the constellation Scorpio, is one of the most colorful
regions in the sky. Besides typical blue reflection nebulae (IC 4604 + IC 4605)
the orange supergiant Antares of spectral type M0 also illuminates the dust
surrounding it and produces a rare yellow reflection nebula (IC 4606). In
between are embedded only dimly illuminated dark nebulae. These absorb to a
large extent the light of the distant background stars and thus become
"visible". On the right, the blue star sigma Scorpii can ionize part of the
adjacent gases by its strong UV radiation and is responsible for the red
emission nebula (Sh2-9).
Each star associated with these nebulae belongs
to a large group of young suns, the Scorpius-Centaurus association. It lies at
a distance of about 600 light-years from the solar
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Messier 4 (NGC 6121) is a
globular cluster of concentration class IX (weak concentration). With a
distance of only 700 light years it is the closest globular cluster to the
solar system.
It has a physical diameter of 75 light years and contains
about 100 000 stars. A special study of over 600 white dwarf stars suggests an
age of about 12.7 billion years. First observed by Swiss astronomer
Jean-Philippe Loys de Chéseaux in 1746, Messier 4 was described by
Charles Messier in 1764 as "a cluster of very small
stars, which with smaller telescopes appears more like a nebula".
« Click here or the thumbnail to load a large annoted image
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More information about the Star
Antares
can be find here ...
A wide angle view of the
Antares nebula regions
we show here ...
NGC 6144 is a small globular
cluster of concentration class X1. First observed was NGC 6144 on May 22, 1784
by William Herschel. John Dreyer, a Danish-Irish astronomer, described
it |
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"as of considerable size, strongly concentrated, brightening
towards the center, and readily resolvable into single stars."
Johan Ludvig Emil Dreyer created the NGC
catalog, a list of more than 7000 star clusters, nebulae and galaxies and later
as a supplement the IC catalog. |
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All Images und all Content are ©
by Franz Hofmann + Wolfgang Paech |