Astronomy Picture of the Day

   [1]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.

                                2022 April 7
    [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest
                        resolution version available.

                     Messier 24: Sagittarius Star Cloud
          Image Credit & [3]Copyright: [4]Gabriel Rodrigues Santos

   Explanation: [5]Unlike most entries in Charles Messier's famous catalog
   of deep sky objects, [6]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. [7]When you gaze at the star cloud with binoculars or
   small telescope 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 fill
   [8]this gorgeous starscape. Covering over 3 degrees or the width of 6
   full moons in the constellation Sagittarius, the telescopic field of
   view includes [9]dark markings B92 and B93 just [10]above center, along
   with other clouds of dust and glowing nebulae toward the center of the
   Milky Way.

                     Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space
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    Authors & editors: [22]Robert Nemiroff ([23]MTU) & [24]Jerry Bonnell
                                 ([25]UMCP)
          NASA Official: Phillip Newman [26]Specific rights apply.
              [27]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices
                A service of: [28]ASD at [29]NASA / [30]GSFC
                           & [31]Michigan Tech. U.

References

   1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
   2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2204/M24_APOD_GabrielRodriguesSantosAPOD.jpg
   3. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
   4. https://www.astrobin.com/users/grsotnas/
   5. https://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/hubble-s-messier-catalog
   6. http://www.messier.seds.org/m/m024.html
   7. https://oneminuteastronomer.com/4460/small-sagittarius-star-cloud/
   8. https://www.astrobin.com/qkqlgl/
   9. https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1919ApJ....49....1B/abstract
  10. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap100708.html
  11. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap220406.html
  12. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
  13. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html
  14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html
  15. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html
  17. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss
  18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html
  19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html
  20. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=220407
  21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap220408.html
  22. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  23. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  24. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  25. http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  26. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  27. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  28. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  29. https://www.nasa.gov/
  30. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  31. http://www.mtu.edu/