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Everdust AtlasStar-forming cloud · Ophiuchus

The Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex

The Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex is the closest star-forming region to Earth, about 390 light-years away, on the border of Ophiuchus and Scorpius near the red star Antares. It's a small, quiet nursery, and the stars forming there are similar in mass to the Sun or smaller. Webb photographed its heart for the telescope's first anniversary in July 2023.

Rho Ophiuchi in Everdust: a glowing pale-yellow cave of dust beside darker blue and red clouds crossed by jets
Rendered in Everdust: the heart of the Rho Ophiuchi clouds as you arrive, from Webb's photograph (Night Sky, in Everdust for Apple Vision Pro). Webb's photograph given depth; the wider cloud complex is NASA's WISE infrared view, and Antares's glow beyond WISE's frame is modelled. Built from the photograph below.

When to see it

Best evenings: May to September (southern hemisphere).

Seen from south of about 57° N. Choose your city for tonight’s times and where to look.

“Up” means at least 10° above the horizon while the Sun is at least 12° below it (dark enough for faint nebulae and galaxies). Your location, if you share it, stays on this device.

At a glance

Distance
390 light-years [1]
The light you see left it
around the year 1640
Size across
about 34 by 23 light-years (the IC 4604 glow in Night Sky's wonders catalogue: 300′ × 200′)
Constellation
Ophiuchus
Position (J2000)
RA 16h 25m 31s, Dec −23° 26′
Visible from
south of about 57° N (farther north it never climbs 10° above the horizon)
High in the evening (9 pm)
May to September from mid-southern latitudes
How to see it
With your eyes

The Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex tonight from four cities

CityTonight
New YorkNot visible from here tonight; best in May.not tonight; best in May
Los AngelesNot visible from here tonight; best in May.not tonight; best in May
LondonNot visible from here tonight; best in May.not tonight; best in May
SydneyNot visible from here tonight; best in May.not tonight; best in May

Tonight in each city’s local time, computed November 8, 2026 with Astronomy Engine (the page refreshes every hour). For your own city, choose it above.

Webb's photograph of the Rho Ophiuchi cloud: red jets crossing dark clouds above a glowing pale-yellow cave of dust with a bright star at its center
Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex (the photograph Everdust's world is built from). Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, K. Pontoppidan (STScI), A. Pagan (STScI). ESA/Webb weic2316a, CC BY 4.0.

The Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex: the facts

Recordthe nearest star-forming region to Earth [3]
In Webb's viewabout 50 young stars, all similar in mass to the Sun or smaller [3]
The red streaksjets of molecular hydrogen from stars bursting out of their dust [3]
The glowing cavecarved by S1, the only star in the image much more massive than the Sun [3]

What does Webb's Rho Ophiuchi photograph show?

Being so near, the region shows in great detail with no foreground stars in the way. The darkest areas are the densest, where thick dust still cocoons protostars. Huge red jets cross the picture where young stars have just burst through their envelopes and shot out pairs of opposite jets. Some stars cast the shadows of discs round them: planetary systems in the making.

Where are the Rho Ophiuchi clouds in the sky?

Just north of Antares, the red heart of Scorpius. Wide-field photographs of the area are among the most colorful in the sky: blue dust lit by the star Rho Ophiuchi, yellow dust round Antares, red glowing gas and dark lanes of dust streaming east.

Step inside the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex in Everdust

In Everdust’s Night Sky, look at the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex and pinch to fly there on Apple Vision Pro, or tap it on iPhone, iPad and Android. What you arrive in, in the app’s own words: “Rho Ophiuchi as it is today: Webb's photograph of the heart of the nearest nursery of stars like the Sun, given depth, with the cloud complex round you.”

Everdust on the App Store for iPhone, iPad and Vision ProEverdust on Google Play for Android

Everdust is free on the App Store for Apple Vision Pro, iPhone and iPad, and on Google Play for Android; Night Sky flies to the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex on all of them. It is also free on Apple TV, with other worlds. I make Everdust, so weigh that; a star-map app such as Stellarium or SkySafari will find the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex just as well.

Questions people ask

Can I see the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex tonight? It depends on where you are. It can be seen from south of about 57° N, and it is best in the evening sky May to September from mid-southern latitudes. Choose your city on this page for tonight's times and where to look. With your eyes: The bright stars round it (Antares and Rho Ophiuchi) are easy; the clouds themselves show only as dark lanes from a very dark site, and in colorful long-exposure photographs.

Where is the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex in the sky? In the constellation Ophiuchus, at right ascension 16h 25m 31s and declination −23° 26′ (J2000). It can be seen from south of about 57° N (farther north it never climbs 10° above the horizon).

How far away is Rho Ophiuchi? About 390 light-years (ESA/Webb), the nearest star-forming region to Earth.

Are stars still being born in Rho Ophiuchi? Yes. Webb's view of its heart shows about 50 young stars, many still wrapped in dust, and jets from stars just emerging (ESA/Webb).

Sources

  1. Distance: “Rho Ophiuchi ... 390 light-years” (esawebb.org, the figure Everdust uses)
  2. ESA/Webb weic2316a: Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex
  3. ESA/Webb weic2316: Webb celebrates first year of science with close-up on the birth of Sun-like stars (12 July 2023)

Distance and position: the deep-sky catalog in Everdust’s Night Sky (read November 1, 2026), each figure quoted from the source above. Constellation, seasons and tonight are computed with Astronomy Engine (Don Cross, MIT license). More: Wikipedia.

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