Messier 24: Sagittarius Star Cloud
Messier 24: Sagittarius Star Cloud
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Explanation:
Unlike most entries
in Charles Messier’s famous catalog of deep sky objects,
M24
is not a bright galaxy, star cluster, or nebula.
It’s a gap in nearby, obscuring interstellar dust clouds that allows
a view of the distant stars in the Sagittarius spiral arm
of our Milky Way galaxy.
Direct your gaze
through this gap with binoculars or small telescope and you are
looking through a window over 300 light-years wide at stars some
10,000 light-years or more from Earth.
Sometimes called the Small Sagittarius Star Cloud, M24’s luminous stars
are left of center in
this gorgeous starscape.
Covering over 6 degrees or the width of 12 full moons in the
constellation Sagittarius,
the telescopic field of view includes
dark
markings
B92 and B93 near the center of M24,
along with other
clouds of dust and glowing nebulae toward the center of the Milky Way.
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