Central region of the Milky Way. The Milky Way is our own galaxy, seen from within. This gives it the appearance of a band of light crossing the sky. It is brightest in the direction of the centre of the galaxy, which is at centre in this image. Huge clouds of dust blocking the light from more distant stars are responsible for the dark patches. The zodiacal constellations Scorpius (right) and Sagittarius (left) are partly seen. The bright star by the lower right edge is Antares (Alpha Scorpii), a red supergiant that is the 16th brightest star in the night sky.