In one respect this image can be described as a classic example of active star clusters and intragalactic dust interacting with the gaseous surrounds to produce a myriad of reflection and emission nebula whilst promoting the formation of new stars. Another way is to see the continuation of the long standing story of the Dragons of Ara fighting for eons over some unnamed objective. The prize could be the celestial orb (NGC6165) that is floating in space which may have magical powers that we don't know of.  What we can see is that after all this time, the dragon in the top portion of the image has the upper hand in this long term battle. It is clearly dominating the fight as it flies into the scene with its wings aflame and is tearing its opponent asunder. Things do not bode well for the diminutive dragon at the bottom of this picture.

From a technical (and less romantic) perspective, this is a four panel mosaic of the area surrounding the emission nebula NGC6188 taken with a Tak TSA120 OTA and QSI683 CCD camera. The star cluster NGC6193 adjacent to the NGC6188 emission nebula is exciting the dusty surrounds resulting in the blue reflection nebula in the left half of the image. NGC6164 (the "celestial orb" as I've called it) has resulted from the effects of radiation from the very hot star at its core causing the surrounding gas to glow like an expanding web of gaseous filaments through space. The bluish colour results from the preponderance of OIII gas that is present in the nebula. This object is also known popularly as the "Dragons Egg" due to its proximity to the Fighting Dragons. Maybe this is what the dragons are fighting over and our aggressor at the top of the image is simply trying to protect the egg from marauding predators.

Data for this image is from Ha, OIII and SII filters with the Ha data collected over a two year period and the OIII/SII data collected in 2023. Mosaic composition was completed entirely in Pixinsight using the Mosaic by Coordinates and Photometric Mosaic processes.

Image B is the starless version and has been provided as the mouse over. Starless images help to highlight features that can get buried in the rich star field. Image C is an annotated version showing the main deep sky objects.