Alpha Scuti is an orange giant, the brightest star in this compact constellation at a magnitude of 3.9.

Most of the constellation can be seen in this one binocular field, including the two Messier objects. Click on each one for its details.

Alpha Scuti is found southwest of Aquila. From lambda Aquilae move east to beta Scuti: binoculars, then down to alpha.

This one binocular field contains a number of star clusters, fairly faint in binoculars but still visible. The closest to alpha, NGC 6664, is a star cluster of about 25 stars and is more dispersed than the others.

Also in the same field is R Scuti (just south of beta). This long-period variable ranges from a magnitude of a bright 4.2 to 8.6 every 146.5 days. In 2000 the maximum is expected in the first week of August.