https://www.seetheglory.com/sagittarius-star-cloud-m24/ The heavens declare the glory of God. Psalms 19:1 Sun, 15 Jun 2014 07:02:09 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 https://www.seetheglory.com/sagittarius-star-cloud-m24/#comment-289 Sun, 15 Jun 2014 07:02:09 +0000 http://dev2.seetheglory.com/sagittarius-star-cloud-m24/#comment-289 This photo brings back fond memories of a long-ago night when some friends and I were using tripod-mounted 11×80 binoculars to observe the summer Milky Way. We were under the then dark skies of the Hercules Glades Wilderness Area south of Springfield and I remember being amazed and delighted by one part of the sky revealing an especially dense profusion of stars. I couldn’t believe how many stars could be seen. I later learned that the richest part of the star field is known as M24. The beauty of that still summer night is hard to describe, and as a teacher I now spend several nights a year trying to share such awesome views and experiences with some of my students and their parents. It’s very rewarding! It saddens me to see more and more people being cut off from such wondrous beauty by light pollution, much of it needless and quite avoidable.

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