ESA Science & Technology - Anomalous dust emission in the Rho Ophiuchus molecular cloud

This three-colour composite image of the Rho Ophiuchus molecular cloud (displayed on the right) is based on the three individual maps (shown on the left) of the complex, taken at 0.4 GHz from Haslam et al. (1982) and at 30 and 857 GHz by Planck, respectively. The colour composite highlights the correlation between the anomalous microwave emission, most likely due to nano-sized spinning dust grains and observed at 30 GHz (shown here in red) and the thermal dust emission, observed at 857 GHz (shown here in green). The complex structure of knots and filaments visible in this cloud of gas and dust represents striking evidence for on-going processes of star formation.

The size of the image is about 5 degrees on a side.