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M24
Messier 24
Sagittarius Star Cloud
Right Ascension | 18h 18m 24s | Best Seen | 7/8-10/14 |
Declination | -18° 26' 00" | Magnitude | 4.6 |
Constellation | Sagittarius | ||
Actual |
Compared to Sun |
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Distance | 10,000 - 16,000 ly | -- |
Diameter | ~ 200 ly | -- |
Number of Stars | -- | 1 |
Actual Brightness | -- | -- |
Age | -- | 5 billion |
Integrated Spectral Type | -- | G2 V |
Density (gram/cubic cm) | -- | -- |
What To Look For Through The Telescope
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Recommended eyepiece: 80 mm on the 6" telescope (Do not use the 16").
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Through the telescope the star cloud will appear as an area of the sky with a high density of stars with a couple dark regions imbedded.
M24 Information
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This Messier object is not a true deep sky object but rather a star cloud in our Milky Way. It is often referred to as the “Little” or “Small Sagittarius Star Cloud”.
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Under considerably dark skies M24 is easily visible to the unaided eye as a Milky Way star cloud in Northern Sagittarius.
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Under less favorable conditions a small telescope will make M24 visible.
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This cloud of stars is spread over thousands of light years along the line of sight and lies toward the center of our Milky Way Galaxy.
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Its visibility to us is made possible by a chance hole in the interstellar dust that is concentrated in the plane of our galaxy.
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References
Item | Updated | Notes |
-- | 2007-6-14 | Originally created |