                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                                2024 July 18

                     Messier 24: Sagittarius Star Cloud
               Image Credit & Copyright: Christopher Freeburn

   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.

                   Tomorrow's picture: festival of planets
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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