M 7, on the left side of this image, is a bright open
cluster which is visible to the unaided eye near the
tail of Scorpius. It was mentioned by Ptolemy in 130 A.D.
The 80 or so stars of this cluster are set against the
multitude of unrelated stars in the Milky Way as we look
toward the center of our galaxy. M 7 is about 800 light years
away; by contrast, on the right side of this image is a small,
yellowish ball of stars, the much more distant globular cluster
NGC 6453, which is 31,000 light years from earth.

Image data:
Camera: Canon 350 XT (modified)
Exposure: 1 minute x 28
Telescope: 10" Schmidt-Newtonian, Baader coma corrector