The Saggitarius star cloud with dark nebula. I was excited when checking the subs because I was seeing what appears to be dark nebula immediately to the north of M24 - M24 is a very cool dense cluster of stars spread out over thousands of lights. My atlas mentions that it is viewed "through a tunnel in the Milky Way's interstellar dust".
Alan Whitman says:
"M24, the Small Sagittarius Starcloud, harbors twin dust clouds, Barnard 92 and 93, visible in 7x50 binoculars. The two perch near the northern edge of M24, where they are very dramatic in my 8-inch f/6 Newtonian at low power. In such a telescope, the lone 12th-magnitude star in B92 is an islet in a black lake outlined by the rich star swarms of M24. B92 is 15' by 10'. In superb skies both my 8-inch and my 4-inch Astroscan can trace dark streams commencing at the western shore of B92. The longest stream can be followed 1° to the southwest edge of M24. Narrower B93 lies about 1/3° east of B92.
Occasionally I can see hints of the amorphous dark structures that photographs show between B93 and the eastern margin of the starcloud. All amateurs have favorite objects that they enjoy introducing to others. Many times I've enjoyed listening to neophytes' reactions when they're shown B92 and B93 for the first time."
Consider me a neophyte.
I'm a big fan of our summer southern skies, and am fascinated by this incredibly densely populated Messier object.
I had a great time shooting this in the company of Kevin G and David M - Dark site is located 75 km east of our city.
About 30 min integration, DSLR is an unmodded 60D. Good seeing and transparency.
Thanks for looking.
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