Milky Way galaxy with a bright planet Venus rising through the hazy red airglow of Earth's atmosphere, above scattered purple lightning flashes. Two stormy worlds shining among endless stars!
Southern Hemisphere Milky Way galaxy view from the @Space_Station cupola. This 3s exposure series captured two of my favorite cupola views, the particularly dense Milky Way galaxy as seen from the Southern Hemisphere, and the bright, colorful lights of squid fishing boats (here, the bright blue and green lights off the coast of China, Thailand and India). Look at what the light did now!
ANTARES REGION💫
The Antares region lies along the border of Scorpius and Ophiuchus and is one of the most layered fields of the Milky Way. The bright red star Antares is a massive red supergiant about 550 light-years away, surrounded by glowing gas, illuminated dust, and dense dark clouds that absorb background starlight.
Just above it sits the Rho Ophiuchi molecular cloud complex, one of the closest stellar nurseries to the Solar System at roughly 400 light-years. The blue nebulae here are reflection nebulae where dust scatters starlight, while the warm golden clouds around Antares are dust illuminated by the star itself. Near Antares you can also see the globular cluster M4, about 5,500 light-years away, containing ancient stars that formed more than 10 billion years ago.