Rho Ophiuchi

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows the star fields and nebular clouds of the region around Rho Ophiuchi. This beautiful image is not from a space-based platform, but is a ground-based image (showing how far optics, instrumentation and computer power have come over the past few decades).

While this is not the setting of Jack Williamson's classic Humanoids tales, his use of "rhodomagnetism" and "rhodium" plus the world "Wing IV" always coupled that in my mind with this nebula. It would be a great backdrop to nighttime shots of a film project based on the stories!