What am I looking at?

[Chif]

Hey guys,

I've been getting out and looking at the sky as often as I can (saw Jupiter and a couple of moons at 4:00 this morning :D), But I keep getting drawn to a certain constellation / cluster (not sure which), within the milky way. But I can't seem to identify it using any star maps or applications.

I've drawn a picture in paint of what it looks like. It might not be exact, but the feature that allows me to remember it is there's a cross in the centre consisting of about 8 stars in total. Do any of you recognise this?

Cheers,
Andrew

[barx1963]

It is not immediately obvious to me. Is this the view through a scope or naked eye?
What time of night was it observed?
What diection and how high up?

That might help narrow it down a bit.

[Larryp]

Southern Cross and pointers?

[Chif]

It was through my scope in Adelaide (10" dob)

At 8 o clock at night it's up and to the left of Mars, within the milky way.

I don't think it's the southern cross Laurie as that's fairly familiar to me. My drawing might not be accurate enough for people to guess. If not I'll just keep observing it and trying to figure it out :)

[astroron]

Part of Scorpius possibly delta scorpius plus other stars.
Get your self a planetarium program,such Stellerium which is free to download.
Cheers:thumbsup:

[barx1963]

I am thinking possibly M7? Although it is fairly low in the sky ATM it is a naked eye object at my place still. I you manage to glimpse it naked eye that would be the most likely candidate.
It follows the 2 bright stars that make the "Stinger" in Scorpios tail and they point almost directly at it.
Having said that, this area is filled with objects, open clusters, globulars, brights nebs, planetary nebs and dark nebs, so an exact ID may be difficult. Do you have star charts or a decent planetarium program to assist you?

Malcolm

[AstroJason]

Hi andrew, what time are you seeing this constellation? And what direction in the sky is it? North, south, east, west? Just realised that Malcolm has already asked this so yes I agree with everyone else here, you're seeing something in scorpius

[Scorpius51]

Looks like constellation of Scorpius to me!

Cheers
John

[Chif]

ahh I think you guys are right! :) My drawing was a bit off and I can't figure out how to get Stellerium to show any other stars. But this looks like it's about right :)

thanks all!!

[Varangian]

x2

As a matter of interest Chif the area around Scorpius' tail is particularly rewarding during the new moon period.

[Chif]

Yeah the last few nights I've been out it's one of the bigger groups of stars I can find. It doesn't help that there are lights all around me. Will be great to go camping in a couple of weeks :)