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.
Instrument: Nikon 300/4 ED lens,
piggybacked on Vixen 102-ED on a Great Polaris
mount
F-ratio:
f/4
Exposures: 2 x 30 minutes, manually
guided
Film: E200, pushed one stop to
320
Date: June 21,
2001
Location: Chisamba,
Zambia
Technical Notes: Obtaining this image was
an excruciating exercise in manual guiding. Since the subject was
near the zenith, the guiding eyepiece was between the legs of the tripod
about two feet off the ground. Two exposures were digitally stacked
as negatives and the resulting composite was converted back to a positive
to create the final image.
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