Small Sagittarius Star Cloud: Messier 24

Small Sagittarius Star Cloud: Messier 24

Unlike most entries in Charles Messier's famous catalog of deep sky objects, M24 is not a bright galaxy, star cluster, or nebula. It is 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 10,000 light-years or more from Earth. Also called the Small Sagittarius Star Cloud, M24's luminous stars are left of center in this vast 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.

Image Credit & Copyright: Christopher Freeburn

Christopher's website:

https://www.astrobin.com/users/CrestwoodSky/

Release Date: July 18, 2024

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