This deep-sky portrait from the constellation Corona Australis juxtaposes two contrasting yet co-located cosmic marvels: the dense globular cluster NGC 6723 on the left, and the vibrant blue reflection nebulae NGC 6726, NGC 6727, and IC 4812 on the right. The globular cluster lies about 28,000 light-years away, densely packed with hundreds of thousands of ancient stars in a roughly spherical formation.

To the right, the nebulae reside much closer, only about 400 light-years from Earth. Their blue color is produced as starlight scatters off interstellar dust, most prominently from the bright stars R and T Coronae Australis. These young stars are still surrounded by the remnants of the clouds from which they formed. Embedded regions of reddish-pink emission and twisting dark dust lanes add further complexity to the scene. This image was built up over 49 hours of exposure using RGB and H-alpha filters to capture both the fine reflection details and subtle emission structures.