Paw in the Lobster

Scorpius is one of the constellations of the zodiac and is located in the Southern celestial hemisphere. Scorpius is one of the 48 constellations identified by the Greek astronomer Ptolemy in the second century. It is a large constellation located in the southern hemisphere near the center of the Milky Way.

Due to its location straddling the Milky Way, this constellation contains many deep-sky objects as shown in the image such as NGC 6334 colloquially known as the Cat's Paw Nebula, Bear Claw Nebula, or Gum 64 (lower left) an emission nebula and star-forming region, NGC 6357 also known as the Lobster Nebula, War and Peace Nebula (middle) a diffuse nebula that contains many proto-stars shielded by dark discs of gas, and young stars wrapped in expanding "cocoons" or expanding gases surrounding these small stars, NGC 6374 (upper right corner) an open cluster and NGC 6396 (upper left) is another open cluster.