In higher latitudes, the constellation Sagittarius unfortunately never rises particularly high over the horizon. It contains the center of the Milky Way as well as a variety of beautiful objects that can be observed during the summer months for a short time. The central region of the constellation with the stars \u03b5, \u03b6, \u03c4, \u03c3, \u03c6, \u03bb, \u03b4 and \u03b3 is often interpreted as a teapot.<\/p>\n
The 30 \u00d7 45 arcmin large Lagoon Nebula M 8<\/em><\/strong> is clearly visible in binoculars, if the sky background is dark enough. The western part of the nebula is illuminated by the 6.0m<\/sup> bright star 9 Sagittarii, which is as bright as 1.6 million Suns. In the eastern part of the nebula you can see some stars of seventh to ninth magnitude which belong to the open cluster NGC 6530<\/strong><\/em>. Whether the 5,200 light-years distant star cluster is inside of the Lagoon Nebula or stands in front of it is still unclear because the distance measurement of nebulae is difficult.<\/p>\n M 17<\/em><\/strong> also bears the names Omega-, Horseshoe- and Swan-Nebula<\/strong><\/em>. This 6,800 light-years distant gas cloud looks (especially in giant binoculars) similar to the number 2, but it can be seen in smaller binoculars, too. M\u200917 is sharply bounded on the north and west by dark clouds, while the other edges are less clearly defined. The dark cloud in its center is sometimes referred to as \u201cfish\u2018s mouth\u201c.<\/p>\n 1\u00b0 south of the Omega nebula is M 18<\/em><\/strong>, a rather inconspicuous open cluster with only nine minutes of arc in diameter, of which only the four brightest stars can be resolved in binoculars. The other stars of the 50 million years old star cluster blur to a weak shimmer. It is 4,100 light-years away and located in the space between two spiral arms of our galaxy, close to the Sagittarius-Carina arm.<\/p>\n The Trifid Nebula M 20<\/em><\/strong> can be seen only under optimal conditions as a 30 arc minutes large, faint shimmer. The eponymous tripartite division is not visible in binoculars. The southern part of the nebula is an emission nebula and the actual Trifid Nebula. In the north it is connected to one of the few reflection nebulae that are bright enough to be visible in binoculars.<\/p>\n M\u200920 is located at the end of a complex of dark nebulae surrounding the Lagoon Nebula M\u20098. The stars of Webb\u2018s Cross<\/strong><\/em> are embedded into the Trifid Nebula \u2013 this small cluster of stars has emerged from the nebula and is today the power source that makes it fluoresce.<\/p>\n To the naked eye, Webb\u2018s Cross merges with M 21<\/em><\/strong>, a very young open cluster. About three dozen stars of M\u200921 can be resolved in binoculars. It has a diameter of 13 arc minutes and is about 5,200 light-years away.<\/p>\n The 10,000 light-years distant globular cluster M 22<\/strong><\/em> is 5.1m<\/sup> and shows single stars in giant binoculars \u2013 at lower magnification it remains a rather bright patch of light. M\u200922 contains about 500,000 stars within 24 minutes of arc or 75 light-years. Since it never rises particularly high over the horizon from North America or Central Europe, it is relatively unknown, although it doesn\u2018t have to fear comparison with the 24,000 light-years away M\u200913. M\u200922 was identified by Abraham Ihle in 1665 as the first globular cluster.<\/p>\n It is still uncertain which object was really labelled M 24<\/em><\/strong> by Charles Messier. Usually NGC 6603 is identified with M\u200924, but Messier\u2018s description fits better to the 1 \u00d7 2\u00b0 wide Small Sagittarius Star Cloud<\/em><\/strong>. It appears as a large nebula with a variety of stars and is also noticeable to the naked eye. M\u200924 extends northeast of \u03bc Sagittarii and is part of 12,000-16,000 light-years distant Norma spiral arm.<\/p>\n M 28<\/em><\/strong> is almost 1\u00b0 north of the 2.8m<\/sup> bright \u03bb Sagittarii, which thus can be used for star hopping. The 19,000 light-years distant globular cluster contains about 100,000 stars and appears in the binocular as 15 minutes of arc large and 6.9m<\/sup> bright patch of light, in which no individual stars can be resolved. Its brightest stars only reach 14th magnitude.<\/p>\n In the southern part of Sagittarius, at the base line of the \u201eteapot\u201c, the three globular clusters M\u200954, M\u200969 and M\u200970 fit well into the field of view of binoculars \u2013 less than 5.5\u00b0 separate M\u200954 from M\u200969. M 54<\/strong><\/em> is the easternmost of the group. It is 1.5\u00b0 west-southwest of the 2.6m<\/sup> bright \u03b6 Sagittarii and appears as a 7.6m<\/sup> bright nebula. It is very dense and concentrated, and its diameter is only nine arcmin. At a distance of 85,000 light-years M\u200954 is not only the most distant globular cluster in Messier\u2018s catalog, but is also far beyond our galaxy. It belongs to the 80,000 light-years away Sagittarius Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy, a satellite galaxy of our Milky Way, which plunges slowly into our galaxy. The dwarf galaxy has the luminosity of 33 million Suns, but it is distributed over a large area. Therefore, its compact globular clusters are easier to see than the galaxy itself, which remains reserved for photographs with long exposure times.<\/p>\n M 69<\/strong><\/em> is a 33,580 light-years distant globular cluster and part of our galaxy, just like M\u200970. M\u200969 appears as a 7.5m<\/sup> bright nebula with a diameter of about seven minutes of arc and can\u2019t be resolved into stars. Only four minutes of arc from the center shines a 8.0m<\/sup> bright foreground star \u2013 the stars of the globular cluster itself only reach 14th magnitude and can only be resolved in larger telescopes. M\u200969 can be found 2.5\u00b0 northeast of \u03b5 Sagittarii.<\/p>\n M 70<\/em><\/strong> lies 2.5\u00b0 east of M\u200969 and offers a similar sight \u2013 with 7.9m<\/sup>, it appears only a little dimmer and more concentrated. It is 35,000 light-years away \u2013 only a little further than M\u200969, so that the two globular clusters also form a real couple in space.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In higher latitudes, the constellation Sagittarius unfortunately never rises particularly high over the horizon. It contains the center of the Milky Way as well as a variety of beautiful objects that can be observed during the summer months for a short time. The central region of the constellation with the stars \u03b5, \u03b6, \u03c4, \u03c3, … Sagittarius<\/span> weiterlesen