In June 1764, this star cloud was catalogued by Charles Messier as a large cluster. It is visible to the naked eye but apparently was not mentioned by any observer prior to Messier. M24 is about one degree by two degrees in size. This rich cloud of stars looks great in a wide-field telescope. M24 is sometimes referred to as the Small Sagittarius Star Cloud to distinguish it from the larger cloud near Gamma Sagittarii.
This is an RGB CCD image taken with an SBIG ST-8XE CCD using a Takahashi FCT-150 refractor.
M24 (NGC 6603)
Constellation: Sagittarius
RA: 18h 18m 47s Dec: -18d 24' 20"
July 10, 2005
Image by Sid Leach
Scottsdale, Arizona
Recent Images.
Complete list of images.
Description of equipment used to acquire images.
Home
Feedback and comments should go to Sid