Here is a shot of the Milky Way in the region of the constellations of Crux and Carina. You can see the Southern Cross over on the right hand side (upside down). Above it is a dark cloud of dust called the Coalsack Nebula. The bright red cloud on the left hand side is the Carina Nebula, a hydrogen emission nebula containing the massive star Eta Carinae. South is up in this image.
Technical details – Canon 40Dh with EF-S 60mm macro lens at f/4, 11×300 second exposures @ ISO500. Dark subtraction, flat field application, registration, stacking and processing in IRIS. Total exposure time 55 minutes.
