Ophiuchus-Serpens (original) (raw)

Ophiuchus, the Serpent Bearer, sprawls his way across the center of the picture (north up and to the right), his brightest star, Rasalhague (Alpha), at top center. (The reddish glow is coming from reflection by light clouds.) Just down and to the right of Rasalhague is Rasalgethi in Hercules, a bit down and to the left Cebalrai (Beta), and down and to left of Cebalrai is Muliphen (Gamma). Ophiuchus is a distorted pentagon-shaped figure, its bottom starting with two stars close together toward lower center (Yed Prior, at right, and Yed Posterior), then running to the left through Zeta Ophiuchi, and ending in bright Sabik. Marfik, Lambda Oph, is up and just to the right of Yed Prior. Theta Oph (seen in the context of the Milky Way west ofSagittarius) is the brightest of the string of four stars near the lower left corner; 36 Oph is below it while Xi is about mid-way between it and Sabik. Rho Oph, the brighter of the two stars near the left lower edge, is better seen in the context of Scorpius whose bright star Antares is near the bottom left. 67 and 70 Oph are in v-shaped "Poniatowski's Bull" up and to the left of Cebalrai (as is invisible Barnard's Star). Kappa Oph is the brighter of the pair down and to the left of Rasalhague, while Chi is the middle star of the near-vertical trio below Zeta. Mu Oph, to the left of center, is the second star directly above Sabik, while Nu Oph is up and to the left of Mu. Sigma Oph lies down and to the right of Beta.

Coming off the bottom and swinging up to both the right and left are two streams of stars that make the divided figure of Serpens, the Serpent. The stream to the left is Serpens Cauda, the Serpent's Tail, that to the right Serpens Caput, the Serpent's Head. Unukalhai, the brightest star in Serpens Caput, is the star toward the lower right. Delta Ser is to the right and just up from it, while Beta Ser and Gamma Ser are progressively upward from Delta. Epsilon Ser is immediately to the left of Unukalhai, while Lambda is just above it. Kappa Ser lies in the middle of the Serpent's head immediately to the right of Gamma Ser. 5 Ser with Messier 5 just to the right of it is down towardd the bottom of the picture directly under Unukalhai. In Serpens Cauda, Xi Ser is up and to the left of Sabik. Far above it, towards the top, is Eta Ser. Serpens Cauda continues upward off the picture and ends in Alya (Theta Ser), near Aquila.

The northern panhandle of Scorpius, which contains Xi, Psi, and Chi Sco, along with the solar-type star 18 Sco, rises northward down and to the left of Yed Prior and Posterior.

As noted above, the Milky Way in Scutum andSagittarius runs downward at left; the small red patch is the diffuse nebula Messier 8. Antares in Scorpius is at the lower left. Southern Herculesis at the upper right, the curve of Corona Borealis below. Omega Herculis is the more distant of the two stars well to the right of and a bit down from Kappa Oph.

The bright golobular clusters Messier 10 and Messier 12 lie within the pentagon and are identified in the labelled image. The curved smudge up and to the left of center is an image flaw.