Messier 24: Sagittarius Star Cloud
Model: gpt-4.1
Prompt version: 1.0
Unlike most entries in Charles Messier’s famous catalog of deep space objects, Messier 24 is not a bright galaxy, star cluster, or nebula. It’s a gap in nearby, obscuring interstellar cosmic dust clouds that allows a view of the distant stars in the Sagittarius spiral arm of our Milky Way galaxy.
When you gaze at the star cloud with binoculars or a small telescope, 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 Small Sagittarius Star Cloud, M24’s luminous stars fill this gorgeous starscape.
Covering over 3 degrees, or the width of 6 full moons in the constellation Sagittarius, the telescopic field of view includes dark markings B92 and B93 just above center, along with other clouds of dust and glowing nebulae toward the center of the Milky Way.