M24 - the small Sagittarius star cloud isn't an object at all, but actually an area of our Galaxy that is clear of obscuring dust. Without the dust we can see deeper into the Galaxy and the millions of stars therein.
@evilscientistca That's cool! Where can I verify/read more about this? (Wikipedia doesn't mention this)
@da5nsy @evilscientistca This seems to address it: "M24 is not a bright galaxy, star cluster, or nebula. It's a gap in nearby, obscuring interstellar dust clouds that allows a view of the distant stars in the Sagittarius spiral arm of our Milky Way galaxy."
https://science.nasa.gov/messier-24-sagittarius-star-cloud
@da5nsy @internic@qoto.org I can't see what this is referencing.
I'll quote the post here (because qoto.org is suspended from octodon.social):
> internic@qoto.org - @da5nsy @evilscientistca This seems to address it: "M24 is not a bright galaxy, star cluster, or nebula. It's a gap in nearby, obscuring interstellar dust clouds that allows a view of the distant stars in the Sagittarius spiral arm of our Milky Way galaxy."
https://science.nasa.gov/messier-24-sagittarius-star-cloud
@da5nsy Not 100% certain, but it looks like E.E. Barnard: https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1906PA.....14..579B/abstract
@evilscientistca
Rad! Thank you! Are there other dust-free windows like this that you're aware of?
@da5nsy Off the top of my head: Large Sagittarius star cloud, Baade's window. There are others.
@evilscientistca That's awesome. Thank you for teaching me about these! 🩷✨
@internic @evilscientistca Awesome! Thank you! 🩷
Do you know who worked this out and when?