The most famous object in Scutum is certainly M11, the "Wild Duck" cluster, discovered in 1681 by German astronomer Gottfried Kirch. It's estimated to have nearly 3000 stars, more than 500 of which are brighter that 14th magnitude. This is one of the most compact and uniform open clusters in our sky. And it's a baby too! Estimates of its age range from 150 to 250 million years.

In addition to the numerous open clusters, Scutum is also home to the globular cluster NGC 6712. This should be an easy target even in a 6". Also, less than half a degree to the ESE of it is the planetary nebula IC 1295. It's probably only discernable in 10" scopes or larger. Scopes in this class should also reveal another planetary known as K4-8 only 5' NW of it. A nebula filter should help considerably.

A degree south of Beta Scuti lies the pulsating yellow supergiant star, R Scuti. It's an "RV Tauri" class star that varies from about 5th to 6th magnitude over a 140 day period. Occasionally, though it dims to past 8th.

The two easiest dark nebulas in Scutum are Barnard 312 and Barnard 104. The first is located 1.5 degrees SE of Gamma Scuti, and is a large black cloud visible in binoculars. Barnard 104 is located 20' N of Beta Scuti, and is hook shaped. Set against a profusion of stars, this guy is about 20' x 5' in size, and should be visible in 4" to 6" scopes.