Comet 10P Tempel 2 and Rho Ophiuchi Nebula

Comet 10P Tempel 2 last night (16/08/2026). Total exposure is 80 minutes with an S30 Pro.

The next two images show the region near Antares, the bright red giant star in Scorpius, a stunning region for astrophotography. In the centre is the blue reflection nebula IC 4603 (aka, Rho Ophiuchi Nebula), located roughly 460 light-years away in the constellation Ophiuchus. It sits inside the vibrant Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex, an active star-forming region near the bright star Antares. The reddish glow in the top right-hand corner is from the star Antares. Reflection nebula are characterised by the glowing blue light from dust reflecting star rays. The primary reason these nebulae look blue is that the microscopic cosmic dust grains scatter shorter, blue wavelengths of light much more efficiently than longer, red wavelengths. This is the exact same physical mechanism that makes Earth's daytime sky look blue.

The first image is with minimal processing, while the second image has been processed within the Seestar app using the AI Enhance and Denoise function. Which do you prefer, the first or second one?