REGION AROUND WRAY 17-96

Wray 17-96 is a very luminous star in the Scorpius constellation, about 15,000 light-years away. It is a suspected luminous blue variable (LBV), although it has not shown the characteristic spectral variations.

Wray 17-96 has an absolute bolometric magnitude of −10.9 (1.8 million solar units), making it one of the most luminous stars known. The spectral type is peculiar, showing emission and absorption, sometimes both in the same line. Photospheric helium lines are visible indicating that the star is at least somewhat evolved. It is highly reddened by interstellar extinction and the visual brightness is reduced by nearly 9 magnitudes. It is located in the centre of the image.

The cluster towards the bottom of the image in the centre is Messier 6 aka the butterfly cluster, there are several other open clusters located in the image.