This image captures a number of objects in the constellation of Ophiuchus at a declination of -24 degrees. 

The dark nebula at the center is Barnard 72, the Snake Nebula.  This winding interstellar dark cloud of obscuring gas and dust is about 600 light years away and 5 light years across.  It has the maximum opacity rating (6) given to dark nebulae.

The small circular dark nebula to the lower right, Barnard 68, is known as the Ink Spot.  This dark nebula seems to me to be the darkest, most intense nebula in the night sky, although it has the same opacity rating (6) as many others, including Barnard 72.  I love the darkness gradient of these nebulae, with the stars gradually disappearing until the center of the nebula is reached, at which point no stars can be seen.  It is as if one is looking down into the depths of a deep lake.

The Barnard dark nebulae included in the image and identified on the mouseover are Barnard objects 68 to 77, 255, 261, and 262.  Through 1927, the astronomer Edward Barnard compiled a list of 369 dark nebulae known as the Barnard Catalogue of Dark Markings in the Sky. These amazing nebulae were once thought to be holes in the Milky Way. After further study, they not holes but interstellar dust clouds which block the background Milky Way stars from our view.   My collection of Barnard objects is seen here.

As seen on the mouseover, the PN at the center of the left edge of the frame is NGC 6369.  This object, best seen in the full resolution view, is a tiny but colorful planetary nebula located 3000 light years away. The 16th magnitude progenitor star is seen at the center.  The nebula's main ring is a bit less than one light year in diameter.  I assume from the overall shape that the nebula is bi-polar.  I think that the nebula probably resembles an hourglass which we view nearly end-on, but that assumption is hard to confirm from our apparent view.  I am surprised that the outer edges are not symmetric to each other, which indicates to me that this may be a multi-polar nebula.

At the center of the right edge of the frame is NGC 6325.  This 10.3 magnitude orange globular cluster is 25,000 light years away and 2 arc-minutes in diameter, which corresponds to a diameter of about 10 light years.