Five objects from Charles Messier’s catalog can be easily seen in this view of
the Milky Way on the border of Sagittarius and Serpens. The large bright patch of stars at the
bottom center of the image is Messier 24, also called Small Sagittarius Star
Cloud. The open cluster to the
bottom left is Messier 25, a loose group of about 50 stars, 2000 light years
away. The open cluster to the
bottom right is Messier 23, which contains about 120 stars, 1400 light years
away. The pink nebula at the top of
the frame is Messier 16, the Eagle Nebula, and the pink nebula closer to the
center is Messier 17, the Swan Nebula. Many of the dark areas, such as those around Messier 24, are not regions
without stars but rather dark nebulae—vast expanses of dust that block
the light of the stars behind them.