The Southern Scorpius Region

Scorpius is one of the most magnificent constellations in the sky. It contains many bright stars and it is situated in a very rich portion of the Milky Way. The fish-hook shaped curve of bright stars that form the tail and sting of the scorpion is one of the easiest sights in the sky to recognise. Scorpius contains a wide range of objects of all types, including many beautiful open clusters, bright globular clusters, numerous planetary nebula, several large and bright emission nebulae, and several large dark nebulae. It makes a wonderful counterpart to Orion, and from Australia makes a magnificent sight during the winter nights when it culminates directly overhead. To explore all of its wonders takes many nights of observing.

Combination of 13, 3 minute exposures using an H-alpha filter.
SBIG ST-8XE CCD. 35mm Nikon lens at f/2.

IC 4604 is part of a complex of dusty, dark absorption nebula and reflection nebulae just to the north of Antares. Since IC 4604 is a reflection nebula, it is very poorly recorded in this image, which was taken using an H-alpha filter. Several other nebulae belonging to the complex were recorded however.

Combination of 20, 3 minute exposures using an H-alpha filter.
SBIG ST-8XE CCD. 35mm Nikon lens at f/2.

Below is a mosiac of these two images.

Combination of 5, 3 minute exposures using an H-alpha filter.
SBIG ST-8XE CCD. 35mm Nikon lens at f/4.

The southern region of Scorpius is home to numerous deep-sky wonders. It is a region of the sky that I never tire of exploring, whether with a telescope or just binoculars. Double stars, clusters of all kinds, nebulae, planetary nebulae, dense star fields..... Scorpius has them all in abundance! This image, taken using an H-alpha filter, highlights the emission nebulae. Some of these are indicated in the image below.