Higher-resolution versions:  1280 x 1024  1680 x 1050  3866 x 2645

Several different types of nebulosity are visible in this image. IC 4606 is the yellowish cloud associated with Antares, the first-magnitude star near the bottom of the image.  Above Antares is IC 4605, the blue reflection nebula around 22 Scorpii. To the left of 22 Scorpii is the dark nebula B44. IC 4604 is the blue nebulosity arund Rho Ophiuchi, the triple star in the upper portion of the image. Below Rho Ophiuchi is the blue nebulosity of IC 4603. Sh 2-9 is the red emission nebula associated with Sigma Scorpii, the blue star near the right edge of the image. Below Sigma Scorpii and to the right of Antares is the globular cluster M4. To the upper right of Antares is the smaller globular cluster NGC 6144.

Equipument: Nikkor 300mm/4 lens/STL-11000M/Astrodon LRGB filters/Paramount ME
F-ratio: f/5.6
Exposures: LRGB: L 10 x 6 minutes: R 10 x 6 minutes: G 10 x 6 minutes: B 10 x 6.3 minutes: RGB binned 2x2
Date:  June 12, 2010
Location: Landers, CA, USA
Technical Notes: Individual exposures were dithered using Paul Kanevsky's AutoDither plug-in for CCDSoft and then sigma combined. Light pollution gradients were removed with Russel Croman's GradientXTerminator plug-in for Photoshop. The RGB image was assembled in Registar 1.0. Gaussian Blur was applied the RGB image and to the dim portions of the luminance image, and Gaussian Blur was applied to the RGB image. The RGB image was duplicated and then combined twice wit the original using Soft Light to enhance the color.