This area in southern Scorpius has many delightful dark nebula, open clusters and bright nebulae. Hold your mouse cursor over the image to see identifications.

The two bright stars at the bottom center of the image are Shaula (Lambda Scorpii), the Stinger of Scorpius, and Lesath (Upsilon Scorpii). These two stars are sometimes also called the Cat's Eyes.

Two large, bright, Messier open clusters, M6 and M7 are located on the left side of the image. M7, the larger cluster, is also called Ptolemy's cluster. M6 is the Butterfly Cluster.

At the center of the image are two large emission nebulae. NGC 6357 lies to the northeast of NGC 6334, also known as the Cat's Paw Nebula.

NGC 6302, a planetary nebula, is at lower right.

North is to the top in the above image.

Southern Scorpius Object Type: Wide-Field Area Area Size: 13° x 8.7° Constellation: Scorpius Image Field Centered At: RA: 17h 31m 01s Dec: -34° 36' 36"