Astronomy Picture of the Day [1]Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2026 July 11 [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available. Messier 24: Sagittarius Star Cloud Image Credit & [3]Copyright: [4]Chuck Ayoub Explanation: [5]Unlike most entries in Charles Messier's famous catalog of deep sky objects, [6]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. [7]Direct your gaze through this gap with binoculars or a 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 [8]Small Sagittarius Star Cloud, M24's luminous stars stretch across this gorgeous interstellar scene. Spanning over four full moons on the sky toward the constellation Sagittarius, the telescopic field of view includes [9]dark markings B92 and B93 [10]near the center of M24, along with other clouds of dust and glowing nebulae toward the center of the Milky Way. Tomorrow's picture: shells and streams __________________________________________________________________ [11]< | [12]Archive | [13]Submissions | [14]Index | [15]Search | [16]Calendar | [17]RSS | [18]Education | [19]About APOD | [20]Discuss | [21]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [22]Robert Nemiroff ([23]MTU) & Jerry Bonnell ([24]UMCP) NASA Official: Amber Straughn [25]Specific rights apply. [26]NASA Web Privacy, [27]Accessibility, [28]Notices; A service of: [29]ASD at [30]NASA / [31]GSFC, [32]NASA Science Activation & [33]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2607/M24.png 3. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 4. https://www.youtube.com/chucksastrophotography 5. https://science.nasa.gov/mission/hubble/science/explore-the-night-sky/hubble-messier-catalog/ 6. http://www.messier.seds.org/m/m024.html 7. https://oneminuteastronomer.com/4460/small-sagittarius-star-cloud/ 8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_Sagittarius_Star_Cloud 9. https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1919ApJ....49....1B/abstract 10. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap100708.html 11. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260710.html 12. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 13. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 15. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 17. https://apod.com/feed.rss 18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 20. https://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=260711 21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260712.html 22. https://www.mtu.edu/physics/department/faculty/nemiroff/ 23. https://www.mtu.edu/physics 24. https://www.astro.umd.edu/ 25. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 26. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 27. https://www.nasa.gov/general/accessibility/ 28. https://www.nasa.gov/privacy/ 29. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 30. https://www.nasa.gov/ 31. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 32. https://science.nasa.gov/learners 33. http://www.mtu.edu/