This is a framing of the most spectacular area of the southern Milky Way, from Centaurus at left, to Carina at right, with Crux, the Southern Cross, at centre.

In this field are arguably the sky's finest examples of various classes of celestial objects:
- the finest telescopic double stars: Alpha Centauri at far left and Acrux at the bottom of the Southern Cross
- the finest globular star cluster: Omega Centauri at top left
- the best dark nebula: the Coal Sack beside Crux (at bottom is the long "Dark Doodad" in Musca)
- the best emission nebula: the Carina Nebula at right (to the left of it is the Lambda Centauri nebulosity)
- the best open star cluster: NGC 3532 or the Football Cluster to the left of the Carina Nebula, with IC 2602, the Southern Pleiades below the nebula a fine runner up. Many other superb star clusters populate this field such as the Jewel Box, NGC 4755, beside Crux.

This is a stack of 8 x 4-minute exposures with the Canon RF28-70mm lens at 48mm and f/2.8, on the Canon Ra at ISO 800, with an URTH light pollution filter to help increase contrast. All on the MSM Nomad tracker. Taken from Mirrabook Cottage near Coonabarabran, Australia on a superb night March 5, 2024.