Rho Ophiuchi Cloud Complex. This is a strikingly colourful region of the night sky and its also the closest area to our Solar System where stars are being formed. Its located about 460 light years away from Earth and is made up of interstellar clouds that contain both red emission nebulae and blue reflection nebulae. The dark brown regions in the image are caused by dust grains that are born in young stellar atmospheres, and they effectively block the light thats emitted behind them. The bright star at the upper left corner is Antares, which is easily visible to the naked eye, even in areas with a lot of light pollution. The lower area of the image features many dark absorption nebulae. The brown dust lane connected to Antares is known as the Dark River, and it spans about 100 light years in the direction of the central band of our Milky Way. Image captured from the Dark Sky Alqueva Observatory in Portugal.