Scorpius: There is hardly another constellation as impressive as Scorpius, the Scorpion. Especially when viewed from the Southern Hemisphere it stretches out from outside the band of the Milky Way until its very center. This image shows not only the chain of stars of the constellation, but also the most conspicuous Deep Sky Objects contained in it.
Starting in the upper left corner one finds IC 4572, the Blue Horsehead Nebula. Below it to the right is IC 4604, the Rho Ophiuchi Nebula, and around the Red Supergiant Antares the Antares Nebulosities. Close to it one can see the Globular Cluster M4. Further on then IC 4628, the Prawn Nebula and at the end of the tail are the wonderful emission nebulae NGC 6334 (Cat´s Paw Neb.) and NGC 6357 (War and Peace Neb.). At the bottom of the image shines the bright Open Cluster M6, the Butterfly Cluster.
Outside the constellation at the right edge of the image one can recognize the extended emission nebula NGC 6188, the Firebird.

For an image without constellation lines and annotations click the Hi Res.Image