Star Cloud M24

M24 is special among Messier objects in being not a single well-defined object, but a star cloud along the plane of the Milky Way, one of the most impressive that is easily seen from te latitude of Paris. Lying in northern Sagittarius, it lacks an NGC number. M24 is shown here from a 30-minute exposure on Ektachrome 400 taken from Cerro Tololo, Chile (and scanned at fairly high density), using a Canon 50mm lens wide open at f/1.8 . North is at the top in this view, which spans an area about 9 degrees square. M24 is best seen in binoculars.

Besides M24, this picture includes M17, the Omega Nebula, prominent as the red fuzz above M24; the open cluster M18 just above M24; and the open cluster M23 near the right edge. In addition, the Trifid Nebula M20 and its neighboring open cluster M21 are near the lower right corner. This whole region is one of the richest in the sky, lying almost in the direction of the galactic center. Feel free to examine the whole 35mm slide field from which this was taken, including 17 Messier objects.

Last changes: 4/2001      © 2001