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| Dim World, Dark Nebula |
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| 07/08/10 |
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Dim, distant,
dwarf planet
Pluto can be hard to spot,
especially in recent months as
it wanders through
the crowded starfields of Sagittarius and the central Milky Way.
But fortunately for backyard
Pluto hunters, it crossed in
front of a dark nebula in early July.
The diminutive world
is marked with two short lines near the
center of this skyscape recorded from New Mexico Skies
on July 5.
Pluto stands out only because obscuring dark nebula Barnard 92
(B92) blocks the background
of the Milky Way's congeries
of faint, innumerable stars.
Another of astronomer
E. E. Barnard's
cataloged dark markings on the sky,
B93, is easy to pick out just left of B92.
Prominent at the lower left is open star cluster
NGC 6603.
In fact, Pluto, dark nebulae, and star cluster all lie within
a portion of M24, also known as the
Sagittarius Star
Cloud, filling most of the frame.
Credit &
Copyright:
Ray Gralak
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