SPINE OF THE MILKY WAY: FRANK SACKENHEIM; SAGITTARIUS: BRIAN VENTRUDO CELESTIAL VIEWS by Brian Ventrudo Summer Star Clouds Spend some time navigating among shimmering sights. D uring summertime, when it's too cloudy for astronomy, I often quench my thirst for starlight with a remarkable series of century-old photographs by Edward Emerson Barnard, the patron saint of Milky Way observers and imagers. In his A Photographic Atlas of Selected Regions of the Milky Way, published in 1927 (and updated by Gerald Orin Dobek in 2011), Barnard's images show the staggering beauty and complexity of a major spiral galaxy seen close up (S&T: Aug. 2023, p. 28). They also inspire new ideas for observing projects throughout the year. CAPTIVATING CLOUDS Stop off at some of summer's prettiest sights sprinkled along the spine of the Milky Way. Barnard's pioneering astrophotography helped elucidate the structure and contents of the Milky Way in the early 20th century, especially the nature of the dark nebulae he captured in his images. Many of these nebulae were eventually compiled into a catalog of 349 " Barnard " objects. But Barnard also revered the brilliant starry patches in the Milky Way that he first observed as an amateur comet hunter. In his book he wrote, " The stars pile up in great cumulous masses like summer clouds, " especially where the " extreme brilliancy of these great star clouds " was most prominent Sagitta Gamma Scuti Gamma Aquilae Scutum Galactic Bulge Small Sagittarius Large Sagittarius 20 AUGUST 2024 * SKY & TELESCOPE