Sky & Telescope - August 2024 - 25

BRIAN VENTRUDO
Scutum RA 18h 45m Dec. -07° 00′
Object
Type
IN THE SHIELD Even a
small constellation such as
Scutum, the Shield, holds not
one but two star clouds. The
Scutum Star Cloud occupies
the northern reaches of the
constellation, while you'll find
the Gamma Scuti Star Cloud,
as the author designates it, in
its southern reaches.
B111
B110
B113
B103
M11
IC 1295
NGC 6712
Dark nebula
Dark nebula
Dark nebula
Dark nebula
Open cluster
Planetary nebula
Globular cluster
-
-
-
5.8
12.5
8.1
Mag(v)
-
Size
120′
11′
11′
4′
11′
1.5′
9.8′
RA
Dec.
18h 50.6m
18h 50.1m
18h 51.4m
18h 39.4m
18h 51.1m
18h 54.6m
18h 53.1m
-04° 57′
-04° 48′
-04° 19′
-06° 40′
-06° 16′
-08° 50′
-08° 42′
Star Clouds in the Sagittarius Arm
Farther northeast lies the spectacular Small Sagittarius
Star Cloud (M24). You'll find it 2° north of Mu (μ) Sagittarii
above the Teapot asterism. Just 2° × 1° in size, the cloud
also runs northeast to southwest and fits in the low-power
field of my 85-mm scope at 25×. This star cloud may be the
single most beautiful patch of sky except possibly for the
region in the southerly constellations of Carina and Centaurus
around the Eta Carinae Nebula.
Like its larger neighbor, M24 is a gap in the dark dust
clouds that offers us a look at nearly unattenuated starlight
from 9,000 light-years away in the galaxy's Sagittarius Arm.
But the stars here are far bluer and younger than those in the
Large Cloud or those near M7. The entire band of the Milky
Way would appear as clear and luminescent as M24 if it
weren't for the vast clouds of fine interstellar dust ejected by
the nuclear smokestacks of generations of dying stars.
The stars in M24 range from magnitude 6 down to
undetectable in my 85-mm at 25× and appear blue-white
or even green. In steady air, M24 assumes a shimmering
three-dimensional quality. On its northern edge, look for
the small, oval dark nebulae B92 and B93 (both 15′ long).
The former has a single 11th-magnitude star near its eastern
side that I can just see in my refractor. Both nebulae are
foreground objects. The compact open cluster NGC 6603
also lies within M24 to the northeast. At 11th magnitude
and just 4′ across, it appears in my refractor at 46× as a fuzzy
patch 4′ north of the 7th-magnitude orange star HD 167976.
In my 10-inch it opens into an irregular and ill-defined
group of stars. Some older catalogs misidentify the M24 star
sk yand tele scope .o r g * AUGUST 2024 25

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Sky & Telescope - August 2024

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Sky & Telescope - August 2024

Contents
Sky & Telescope - August 2024 - Cover1
Sky & Telescope - August 2024 - Cover2
Sky & Telescope - August 2024 - 1
Sky & Telescope - August 2024 - Contents
Sky & Telescope - August 2024 - 3
Sky & Telescope - August 2024 - 4
Sky & Telescope - August 2024 - 5
Sky & Telescope - August 2024 - 6
Sky & Telescope - August 2024 - 7
Sky & Telescope - August 2024 - 8
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Sky & Telescope - August 2024 - Cover3
Sky & Telescope - August 2024 - Cover4
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