This great image shows M24, the small Sagittarius Star Cloud, with open star cluster NGC 6603 seen prominently in the upper left [NE] quarter, and dark nebulae Barnard 92 (B92) and Barnard 93 (B93) to the upper right [NW]. Less prominent open cluster Collinder 469 can be found just right [W] of the left, cometary-looking dark nebula, B92. Below B93 is inconspicuous open cluster Markarian 38 or Biur 5 just above (north of) a brighter star.

This picture is a mosaic of 16 frames taken in the BVR pass-bands at the Burrell Schmidt telescope of Case Western Reserve University's Warner and Swasey Observatory, located on Kitt Peak, near Tucson, Arizon. It is a composite of seven frames taken in June 1996 and nine frames taken in September 1997 during the Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program operated at the Kitt Peak National Observatory. Image size 66.7x61.7 arc minutes.
Credit: Vanessa Harvey, REU program/NOAO/AURA/NSF

More NOAO images

Bill Keel has obtained this color image of star cloud M24 and its surroundings, extracted 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. Besides M24, the following Messier objects are visible in this image: Diffuse nebula M17 (the Omega Nebula) and open star cluster M18 above (north of) the left (eastern) end of the star cloud, open clusters M23 at the right (western) and M25 at the right (eastern) edge of this image, as well as the diffuse Trifid Nebula M20 and open cluster M21 in the lower right (SE). Close investigation of M24 reveals that some details of this region can just be recognized in this image, in particular the dark clouds Barnard 92 and 93.

Region around M24 with the Omega Nebula M17 and the open cluster M18

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Hartmut Frommert
Christine Kronberg
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Last Modification: June 27, 1998