The Red Supergiant

© Greg Gibbs. You may not use, replicate, manipulate, or modify this image without my permission. All Rights Reserved.

Antares (Alpha Scorpii) is a red supergiant star and the sixteenth brightest star in the night sky. It has a radius of approximately 883 times that of the Sun and if it were placed in the center of our solar system, its outer surface would lie between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. It is one of only a few stars that appear distinctly red to the unaided eye.

This is the last image I have from my all nighter last weekend. I thought it would be kinda fun to try and image a really bright star and I choose Antares as its light is shining through the dark nebula (IC4606) causing it to light up a yellow colour. Antares and this nebula form part a much larger region known as the Rho Ophiuchus complex. This colourful region of sky can be seen in another of my images....


25/03/2012
Canon EOS 1000D
Baader Coma Corrector
10 inch (25cm) F/4 Newtonian Reflector Telescope
NEQ6 PRO Computerised Goto Mount
Orion 80mm ShortTube Guide Scope
Synguider Autoguider
21 x 3 minute exposures
ISO 800
20 x 3 minute Dark frame subtracted
Images stacked and alligned in Deep Sky Stacker
Final processing in PS CS3