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Image and text ©2008 Akira Fujii/David Malin Images.
In the picture above north is at the top and the image covers 29.2 x 36.4 degrees.
Image centre is located at 18:38:10.6, -13:51:38 (H:M:S, D:M:S, J2000) Astrometric data from Astrometry.net.
Best seen in the early evening in August
Scutum (The Shield) was originally Scutum Sobiescianum, Sobieski's Shield, and was introduced in 1690 by the astronomer/cartographer Johannes Hevelius, one-time mayor of Gdansk (Danzig), in honour of Polish warrior-King John Sobieski. King John distiguished himself in defending his land against the Turks in 1683, turning them back at the gates of Vienna. For this he was hailed by the Pope and others as the savior of Vienna and Western European Civilization. Scutum was created in honor of this victory, and α (alpha) Scuti named Ioannina (Greek for John) in his honor.
That said, Scutum is small, 84th in size out of the 88 modern constellation. It contains no bright stars, and seems to have been carved out of adjoining Aquila and Serpens simply embrace a fine piece of the Milky Way. However, the open clusters M11 and M26 can be found here. Named star in Scutum: (Greek alphabet) Ioannina (α Sct).
Constellations adjoining Scutum: Aquila, Sagittarius, Serpens.
Related images (other sources -- see under 'Related Images' on the pages below)
AAT 90. Messier 11, a young open cluster in Scutum, NGC 6705
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