This is the small but dense dark nebula known as the Ink Spot Nebula, or Barnard 86, sitting beside the small bright star cluster NGC 6520, all in Sagittarius. B86 was discovered by Edward Emerson Barnard. It sits in the rich Sagittarius Starcloud below the M8 and M20 nebulas.

A loose and not obvious star cluster Trumpler 31 is at lower right. A very tiny green planetary nebula IC 4673 sits at top centre. A small and very yellowed globular cluster, Djorgovski 2, sits just to the right of B86.

The field of view is about 3° by 2°.

Technical:
This is a stack of 18 x 4-minute exposures, unfiltered, through the Askar APO120 refractor with its 0.8x Reducer/Flattener for f/5.6 and 670mm focal length, and the Canon Ra camera at ISO 800. Taken October 2, 2024 from the Quailway Cottage near Rodeo, New Mexico, but in Arizona, at 32° N latitude. On the Astro-Physics AP400 mount, autoguided with the Lacerta MGEN3 stand-alone auto-guider. The field was setting into the southwest sky in the early evening but was still high enough to provide good sky quality for 80 minutes of shooting.