Astrophotographer Greg Meyer has captured a stunning image of the Rho Ophiuchi nebula and the globular cluster Messier 4, taken in April 2025. Achieving such high quality required patience, with a total exposure time of 14 hours and 45 minutes.
To take the images, Meyer used a thermoelectrically cooled monochrome camera mounted on a 61 mm Radian Raptor telescope, capturing 177 exposures of 3–5 minutes each. He processed the raw data using PixInsight, Adobe Lightroom, and Photoshop to emphasize the intricate structures of gas clouds and dark dust filaments.
The final image features not only Rho Ophiuchi—the closest star-forming region to Earth—but also the red giant Antares, the globular cluster Messier 4 (which contains about 100,000 stars), and the lesser-known cluster NGC 6144.
The Rho Ophiuchi nebula lies 390 light-years from Earth, Antares is 550 light-years away, and light from Messier 4 takes 5,500 years to reach us. This region is also under detailed observation by the Hubble and James Webb Space Telescopes. Despite the attention from professional astronomers, images like Meyer’s highlight the impressive capabilities of modern amateur astrophotography.