WIDE FIELD SAGITTARIUS

The Milky Way runs from top to bottom in this photo taken in October of 1990.` Sagittarius (the Archer), with its prominent Little Milk Dipper, dominates the center of the image. Scutum (the Shield) lies toward the top within a prominent star cloud. Serpens Cauda is to the right, Scorpius (the Scorpion) lies across the bottom, and Corona Australis (the Southern Crown) is at bottom left. The bright "star" up and to the left of center is Saturn, while Uranus lies nearly lost at the center of the picture among the stars of the Milky Way. Note the great difference in brightness between the two planets. Antares near the bottom right corner. The bright diffuse nebula M8 (the "Lagoon") lies in the middle of the dark complex of dust clouds that make the southern extennsion of the "Great Rift." The "Pipe Nebula" is the most prominent of several large tube-like dust clouds.