The Tail of Scorpius

This is the rich region in the Milky Way in the tail of Scorpius. It is replete with many nebulas, both bright emission and dark dust clouds. At lower right is the False Comet area, as it looks comet-like to the naked eye. It is made of the small bright star cluster NGC 6231, along with the larger cluster Collinder 316, and the magenta emission nebula IC 4628. At top is the nebula NGC 6357 and below it NGC 6334, aka the Cat's Paw Nebula. The very tiny (on this scale) red Bug Nebula, NGC 6302, is at centre. The pair of stars at left are Shaula and Lesath which make up the 'Stingers' of the Scorpion tail. The tight double at right is made of Mu1 and Mu2 Scorpii. This is a stack of 10 x 2 minute exposures with the Canon RF135mm lens at f/2 on the Canon Ra at ISO 800. It was on the Astro-Physics AP400 mount. The lens had an 82mm URTH Night broadband filter on it. Taken on the morning of March 14, 2024 from the Warrumbungles Mountain Motel near Coonabarabran, NSW, Australia during the OzSky star party. (Photo by: Alan Dyer/VWPics/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)