This wide-field view features Messier 24, also called Small Sagittarius Star Cloud, which is the large bright patch just left of center in this picture. It is one of the brightest sections in the Milky Way, and can sometimes be seen when the rest of the Milky Way is obscured by light pollution or moonlight.
Roll over the image to identify some of the other objects. There are the open clusters Messier 18, 23, and 25 and NGC 6645, and the bright nebulae M16 (the Eagle Nebula) and M17 (the Swan Nebula). Also identified are three dark nebulae from Barnard's list, which are clouds of dust that block the light of the stars behind them.This rich area of the Milky Way in northern Sagittarius is a great place to explore with binoculars on a moonless summer night.
Image details: 13 images, each 120 seconds at ISO 1600, taken with a Canon 400D camera at a focal length of 35 mm.
October 2008