M24: 人马恒星云

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

M24: 人马恒星云
影像提供与版权: Christopher Freeburn

说明: 有别于梅西耶著名星表里的大多数深空天体，M24并不是明亮的星系、星团或星云。它是邻近不透光星际尘埃云上的裂缝，因此让我们得以窥见位于我们银河系人马旋臂上的遥远恒星。当你把双筒或小望远镜指向这道裂缝时，你的视线穿过一扇宽度超过300光年的视窗，看见距离地球约10,000光年或更远的恒星。在这片壮丽的星野里，偶而亦有人马小恒星云称号的M24内之亮星，位于中左方。这幅涵盖人马座约6度（12个满月）宽度的望远镜影像，记录许多位在银河中心方向的尘埃云和星云，包括M24中心附近的暗星云B92及B93。

明日的图片: festival of planets

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