Constellation · Southern sky · Summer

Scutum, the Shield

SKOO-tum · genitive Scuti · Sct

A small, faint shield on one of the brightest stretches of the Milky Way, the Scutum Star Cloud. It holds the Wild Duck Cluster, M11, and UY Scuti, one of the largest stars known.

0h 6h 12h 18h
Where Scutum sits on the whole sky. Gold line: the ecliptic.
Scutum star chart with deep-sky objects Wild Duck Cluster | Open cluster | mag 5.8 M11 Messier 26 | Open cluster | mag 8.9 M26 Scutum Star Cloud | Star cloud | mag - Scutum Cloud R Scuti | Variable star | mag 4.2 R Sct NE

Swipe sideways to pan the chart.

Stars to magnitude 8, IAU boundary and stick figure, J2000. Click any object to open its page; click a neighboring constellation's name to go there. Nebula Open cluster Galaxy Planetary nebula Dark nebula Double star
Area
109 sq°rank 84 of 88
Best month
Augustat 9 pm
Visible from
75°N to 90°S
Brightest star
Tianbian (mag 3.85)
Messier
2M11 M26
Caldwell
0none
Cataloged objects
345in 15 catalogs

A bright patch of Milky Way below Aquila

Scutum has no bright stars, but the Scutum Star Cloud makes it easy to find: a bright knot of the Milky Way between the tail of Aquila and the top of Sagittarius.

  • η Sct to M11: M11 lies 1.5° west of η Sct, at the northern end of the star cloud.

Evening sky from July to September

Scutum is highest at 9 pm in August and is seen from nearly every inhabited latitude.

JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC 60°N JAN at 60°N: -36° high at 9 pm FEB at 60°N: -41° high at 9 pm MAR at 60°N: -37° high at 9 pm APR at 60°N: -25° high at 9 pm MAY at 60°N: -10° high at 9 pm JUN at 60°N: 4° high at 9 pm JUL at 60°N: 15° high at 9 pm AUG at 60°N: 19° high at 9 pm SEP at 60°N: 15° high at 9 pm OCT at 60°N: 5° high at 9 pm NOV at 60°N: -9° high at 9 pm DEC at 60°N: -24° high at 9 pm 50°N JAN at 50°N: -44° high at 9 pm FEB at 50°N: -51° high at 9 pm MAR at 50°N: -45° high at 9 pm APR at 50°N: -28° high at 9 pm MAY at 50°N: -10° high at 9 pm JUN at 50°N: 9° high at 9 pm JUL at 50°N: 23° high at 9 pm AUG at 50°N: 29° high at 9 pm SEP at 50°N: 24° high at 9 pm OCT at 50°N: 10° high at 9 pm NOV at 50°N: -8° high at 9 pm DEC at 50°N: -27° high at 9 pm 40°N JAN at 40°N: -51° high at 9 pm FEB at 40°N: -61° high at 9 pm MAR at 40°N: -52° high at 9 pm APR at 40°N: -31° high at 9 pm MAY at 40°N: -8° high at 9 pm JUN at 40°N: 14° high at 9 pm JUL at 40°N: 31° high at 9 pm AUG at 40°N: 39° high at 9 pm SEP at 40°N: 32° high at 9 pm OCT at 40°N: 15° high at 9 pm NOV at 40°N: -7° high at 9 pm DEC at 40°N: -29° high at 9 pm 30°N JAN at 30°N: -56° high at 9 pm FEB at 30°N: -71° high at 9 pm MAR at 30°N: -58° high at 9 pm APR at 30°N: -33° high at 9 pm MAY at 30°N: -7° high at 9 pm JUN at 30°N: 18° high at 9 pm JUL at 30°N: 39° high at 9 pm AUG at 30°N: 49° high at 9 pm SEP at 30°N: 40° high at 9 pm OCT at 30°N: 20° high at 9 pm NOV at 30°N: -5° high at 9 pm DEC at 30°N: -30° high at 9 pm 20°N JAN at 20°N: -60° high at 9 pm FEB at 20°N: -81° high at 9 pm MAR at 20°N: -62° high at 9 pm APR at 20°N: -33° high at 9 pm MAY at 20°N: -5° high at 9 pm JUN at 20°N: 22° high at 9 pm JUL at 20°N: 46° high at 9 pm AUG at 20°N: 59° high at 9 pm SEP at 20°N: 48° high at 9 pm OCT at 20°N: 24° high at 9 pm NOV at 20°N: -3° high at 9 pm DEC at 20°N: -31° high at 9 pm 10°N JAN at 10°N: -60° high at 9 pm FEB at 10°N: -89° high at 9 pm MAR at 10°N: -62° high at 9 pm APR at 10°N: -33° high at 9 pm MAY at 10°N: -4° high at 9 pm JUN at 10°N: 26° high at 9 pm JUL at 10°N: 52° high at 9 pm AUG at 10°N: 69° high at 9 pm SEP at 10°N: 54° high at 9 pm OCT at 10°N: 28° high at 9 pm NOV at 10°N: -1° high at 9 pm DEC at 10°N: -30° high at 9 pm 0° JAN at 0°: -58° high at 9 pm FEB at 0°: -79° high at 9 pm MAR at 0°: -60° high at 9 pm APR at 0°: -31° high at 9 pm MAY at 0°: -2° high at 9 pm JUN at 0°: 28° high at 9 pm JUL at 0°: 57° high at 9 pm AUG at 0°: 79° high at 9 pm SEP at 0°: 59° high at 9 pm OCT at 0°: 30° high at 9 pm NOV at 0°: 1° high at 9 pm DEC at 0°: -28° high at 9 pm 10°S JAN at 10°S: -53° high at 9 pm FEB at 10°S: -69° high at 9 pm MAR at 10°S: -55° high at 9 pm APR at 10°S: -28° high at 9 pm MAY at 10°S: 0° high at 9 pm JUN at 10°S: 30° high at 9 pm JUL at 10°S: 59° high at 9 pm AUG at 10°S: 89° high at 9 pm SEP at 10°S: 61° high at 9 pm OCT at 10°S: 32° high at 9 pm NOV at 10°S: 2° high at 9 pm DEC at 10°S: -26° high at 9 pm 20°S JAN at 20°S: -47° high at 9 pm FEB at 20°S: -59° high at 9 pm MAR at 20°S: -49° high at 9 pm APR at 20°S: -25° high at 9 pm MAY at 20°S: 2° high at 9 pm JUN at 20°S: 30° high at 9 pm JUL at 20°S: 58° high at 9 pm AUG at 20°S: 81° high at 9 pm SEP at 20°S: 60° high at 9 pm OCT at 20°S: 33° high at 9 pm NOV at 20°S: 4° high at 9 pm DEC at 20°S: -23° high at 9 pm 30°S JAN at 30°S: -40° high at 9 pm FEB at 30°S: -49° high at 9 pm MAR at 30°S: -41° high at 9 pm APR at 30°S: -20° high at 9 pm MAY at 30°S: 4° high at 9 pm JUN at 30°S: 30° high at 9 pm JUL at 30°S: 55° high at 9 pm AUG at 30°S: 71° high at 9 pm SEP at 30°S: 57° high at 9 pm OCT at 30°S: 32° high at 9 pm NOV at 30°S: 6° high at 9 pm DEC at 30°S: -19° high at 9 pm 40°S JAN at 40°S: -32° high at 9 pm FEB at 40°S: -39° high at 9 pm MAR at 40°S: -33° high at 9 pm APR at 40°S: -16° high at 9 pm MAY at 40°S: 6° high at 9 pm JUN at 40°S: 29° high at 9 pm JUL at 40°S: 50° high at 9 pm AUG at 40°S: 61° high at 9 pm SEP at 40°S: 51° high at 9 pm OCT at 40°S: 31° high at 9 pm NOV at 40°S: 7° high at 9 pm DEC at 40°S: -14° high at 9 pm below horizon low 20-40° 40-60° overhead-ish
Altitude of the constellation's center at 9 pm local time on the 15th of each month. Computed from its position, for any longitude.

Scutum's best targets are M11 and the star cloud

Scutum lies on the Milky Way toward the inner galaxy. Two Messier objects, the open clusters M11 and M26, fall inside its boundary. It has no Caldwell objects.

Best targets
ObjectTypeMagSizeDistanceBest with
Wild Duck ClusterM11 · NGC 6705Open cluster5.823′7,280 lyBinoculars
Messier 26M26 · NGC 6694Open cluster8.914′5,990 lyTelescope
Scutum Star CloudScutum Star CloudStar cloud-4°~6,000 lyNaked eye
R ScutiR SctVariable star4.2star~1,300 lyBinoculars
SCUTUM

On each object page: a locator like this one shows where Wild Duck Cluster sits in Scutum. The box marks a 2.5° field, about what 10×50 binoculars show.

Turned sideways: Tianbian is 184 light-years away, M11 7,300

Tianbian is 184 light-years away. The star cloud and M26 lie about 6,000 light-years away, UY Scuti about 5,900 and M11 7,300.

Scutum turned sideways: how far away each star and object is STARS YOU CAN SEE MILKY WAY OTHER GALAXIES 10 ly 100 ly 1,000 ly 10,000 ly 100,000 ly 1 million ly 10 million ly 100 million ly EARTH Tianbian: 184 lyTianbian184 ly β Sct: 672 lyβ Sct672 ly ζ Sct: 183 lyζ Sct183 ly γ Sct: 315 lyγ Sct315 ly δ Sct: 201 lyδ Sct201 ly η Sct: 212 lyη Sct212 ly ε Sct: 571 lyε Sct571 ly Sct: 1,846 ly Sct1,846 ly Sct: 262 ly Sct262 ly Sct: 1,287 ly Sct1,287 ly UY Scuti: 5,900 lyUY Scuti5,900 ly Wild Duck Cluster: 7,280 lyWild Duck Cluster7,280 ly M26: 5,990 lyM265,990 ly Scutum Star Cloud: ~6,000 lyScutum Star Cloud~6,000 ly R Scuti: ~1,300 lyR Scuti~1,300 ly
Side view: distance from Earth on a logarithmic scale, each step ten times farther. The vertical position of every star and object is unchanged. Stick-figure lines join only stars with measured distances.

Brightest stars in Scutum

StarDesignationMagDistanceSpectral class
Tianbianα Sct3.85184 lyK2III
β Sctβ Sct4.22672 lyG5II
ζ Sctζ Sct4.66183 lyK0III
γ Sctγ Sct4.67315 lyA1IV/V
δ Sctδ Sct4.70201 lyF2IIIp d Del
η Sctη Sct4.83212 lyK1III
ε Sctε Sct4.88571 lyG8II
Sct Sct5.081,846 lyB3II
Sct Sct5.12262 lyG8III
Sct Sct5.381,287 lyK0Ibpvar

Every cataloged object in Scutum

The table above is the short list. Below is everything the major catalogs place inside the IAU boundary of Scutum. Open a catalog to see its brightest members. Each list shows up to 25; longer lists link to the full catalog page.

Messier2
DesignationNameTypeMagDistance
M11Wild Duck Clusteropen cluster5.87,280 ly
M26open cluster8.95,990 ly
Herschel 4002
DesignationNameTypeMagDistance
NGC 6664open cluster7.86,500 ly
NGC 6712globular cluster8.1024,100 ly
NGC13
DesignationNameTypeMagDistance
NGC 6705Amas de l'Ecu de Sobieskiopen cluster5.807,280 ly
NGC 6664open cluster7.806,500 ly
NGC 6694open cluster8.875,990 ly
NGC 6649open cluster8.90-
NGC 6625open cluster9.00-
NGC 6704open cluster9.20-
NGC 6683open cluster9.40-
NGC 6631open cluster11.7-
NGC 6712globular cluster24,100 ly
NGC 6682open cluster-
NGC 6655double star-
NGC 6639open cluster-
NGC 6728open cluster-
IC3
DesignationNameTypeMagDistance
IC 1295planetary nebula12.55,220 ly
IC 1287reflection nebula-
IC 4768open cluster-
Open clusters28
DesignationNameTypeMagDistance
Wild Duck Clustercluster5.87,280 ly
NGC 6664Santa's Sleigh Clustercluster7.86,500 ly
Collinder 387cluster8.68,970 ly
NGC 6649cluster8.96,390 ly
M26cluster8.95,990 ly
NGC 6625not confirmed9.0-
Collinder 388cluster9.28,720 ly
NGC 6704cluster9.27,120 ly
NGC 6683cluster9.49,930 ly
NGC 6631cluster11.8,100 ly
Ruprecht 142not confirmed-
Ruprecht 141not confirmed-
NGC 6728cluster5,730 ly
Ruprecht 143cluster8,360 ly
NGC 6682not confirmed-
Basel 1cluster5,810 ly
Dolidze 30not confirmed-
NGC 6639not confirmed-
Dolidze 28not confirmed-
Dolidze 29not confirmed-
IC 4768not confirmed-
Dolidze 34not confirmed-
Dolidze 33cluster9,500 ly
Dolidze 32cluster6,510 ly
Dolidze 31not confirmed-
The 25 brightest of 28 in Scutum
Globular clusters3
DesignationNameTypeMagDistance
RLGC 27.9751,500 ly
NGC 67128.1024,100 ly
Mercer 58.2017,900 ly
Planetary nebulae110
DesignationNameTypeMagDistance
PN G027.4-03.5true12.4-
IC 1295true12.55,220 ly
Abell 45 (PN)true12.86,200 ly
M 1-46true12.87,840 ly
PN G021.1-05.9true14.1-
PN G027.7+00.7true15.0-
PN G028.2-04.0true15.1-
PN G028.7-03.9true16.0-
Abell 49 (PN)true16.2-
M 3-30true17.915,100 ly
PHR J1844-1410possible18,000 ly
PN G019.1+00.8true-
PN G019.2-04.4true-
PN G019.4-05.3true-
PN G019.2-01.6true-
PN G019.2-02.2true-
PN G018.5-01.6true-
PHR J1824-1505true12,700 ly
PN G029.4-02.3true-
PN G016.8-01.7true-
PN G016.9-02.0true-
PN G017.7-02.9true-
PHR J1831-1415true11,400 ly
PN G018.1-01.7true-
PN G018.2-00.9true-
The 25 brightest of 110 in Scutum
Sharpless H II regions10
DesignationNameTypeMagDistance
Sh2-48HII region11,710 ly
Sh2-60HII region-
Sh2-59HII region-
Sh2-58HII region-
Sh2-57HII region6,850 ly
Sh2-56HII region-
Sh2-55HII region-
Sh2-53HII region11,020 ly
Sh2-50HII region-
Sh2-61HII region7,500 ly
Lynds bright nebulae14
DesignationNameTypeMagDistance
LBN 64emission11,710 ly
LBN 82emission-
LBN 81emission-
LBN 80emission-
LBN 79emission-
LBN 78emission6,850 ly
LBN 77emission-
LBN 76reflection739 ly
LBN 75reflection739 ly
LBN 74emission-
LBN 73mixed-
LBN 69emission-
LBN 66emission-
LBN 84emission7,500 ly
Van den Bergh reflection nebulae2
DesignationNameTypeMagDistance
vdB 124reflection5.77739 ly
vdB 122reflection9.932,670 ly
Barnard dark nebulae40
DesignationNameTypeMagDistance
B97-
B114-
B115-
B116-
B117-
B117A-
B118-
B119-
B119A-
B120-
B121-
B122-
B113-
B112-
B101-
B102-
B103-
B104-
B105-
B106-
B107-
B108-
B109-
B110-
B111-
The 25 brightest of 40 in Scutum
Lynds dark nebulae86
DesignationNameTypeMagDistance
LDN 37416,720 ly
LDN 3761-
LDN 37916,720 ly
LDN 3801-
LDN 3811-
LDN 38516,160 ly
LDN 3881-
LDN 3891-
LDN 3901-
LDN 3951-
LDN 3961-
LDN 3981-
LDN 3991-
LDN 4011-
LDN 4021-
LDN 4031-
LDN 4041-
LDN 4051-
LDN 4061-
LDN 4091-
LDN 4101-
LDN 4111-
LDN 4121-
LDN 4131-
LDN 4141-
The 25 brightest of 86 in Scutum
Supernova remnants24
DesignationNameTypeMagDistance
G17.4-2.3-
Kes 69-
G22.7-0.2-
W41-
G24.7-0.6-
G24.7+0.6-
G25.1-2.3-
G27.4+0.04C -04.71II18,900 ly
G27.8+0.6-
G28.3+0.2-
G28.6-0.1-
G21.8-3.0-
G21.6-0.8-
G17.4-0.1-
G17.8-2.6-
G18.1-0.1-
G18.6-0.2-
Kes 67-
G18.9-1.1-
G19.1+0.2-
G20.0-0.2-
G21.0-0.4-
G21.5-0.9II15,300 ly
G28.7-0.4-
Carbon stars1
DesignationNameTypeMagDistance
S SctHR 7089C6(N3)6.301,384 ly
Nearby stars (Gliese)7
DesignationNameTypeMagDistance
Gl 717610.0389 ly
Gl 724610.6355 ly
GJ 2138611.2844 ly
Gl 723611.4958 ly
NN 4077612.1356 ly
GJ 2139614.1879 ly
GJ 2135615.6062 ly

One of the largest stars known

  • UY Scuti. A red supergiant once listed as the largest known star. Gaia's distance cut its estimated size to about 900 times the Sun's width, still among the largest.

Scutum video tour

Scutum Constellation Deep Sky Tour: Nebulae & Clusters · Watch on YouTube

The shield of King Jan Sobieski

Johannes Hevelius created the constellation in 1684 as Scutum Sobiescianum, Sobieski's Shield, honoring Polish King Jan III Sobieski, who had lifted the siege of Vienna the year before. In Chinese astronomy α Sct is Tianbian (天弁), the Market Officer.

Constellations bordering Scutum

Scutum shares its IAU boundary with 3 constellations.