Distant Sparklers

The brilliant stars of Messier 7 sparkle against the background of the Milky Way in this view from the European Southern Observatory. The stars all formed about 200 million years ago. Many of them are so big and bright, though, that they're already nearing the ends of their lives. Messier 7 sits above the tail of Scorpius, the scorpion, which wheels low across the southwest on late-summer evenings. [ESO]