The Ophiuchus Cloud is one of the nearest places where stars are being born, a dark cloud complex whose dense core around Rho Ophiuchi hides a young cluster.
At a glance
| type | nebula |
|---|---|
| distance from the Sun | 453 light-years (139 pc) |
| its light left it | 453 years ago |
| size in the piece | about 59 light-years acrossmodel |
Read off the piece’s own catalogue, the same values it draws with. Model marks a property of the piece’s galaxy model rather than a measurement.
About Ophiuchus Cloud
This complex of molecular gas and dust lies above the Galactic centre on the sky, between Ophiuchus and Scorpius. Its densest part, the Rho Ophiuchi cloud core, holds a cluster of protostars and very young stars still wrapped in the gas they formed from, and long dark streamers trail away from it across the sky.
In visible light the young stars are invisible, swallowed by dust. Infrared surveys see through the veil and reveal them in large numbers, along with discs and outflows, which makes the region one of the main laboratories for how stars like the Sun form. The cloud sits next to the young stars of the Scorpius–Centaurus association, whose winds and supernovae are thought to have compressed it.
What you see in the piece
From Earth it is a dark lane cutting the Milky Way near Antares; switch to infrared and the dust and its hidden young stars glow.
Measured or modelled
The role of the neighbouring massive stars in triggering star formation here is a model, not a measurement. The extent shown in the piece is modelled.
Questions
How far away is the Ophiuchus Cloud?
The Ophiuchus Cloud is about 453 light-years (139 pc) from the Sun.
Are stars forming in the Ophiuchus Cloud?
Yes. Its dense core around Rho Ophiuchi contains a cluster of protostars and very young stars, visible in infrared through the dust.