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Structure round the Sun

The Sagittarius Star Cloud

Also M24 · Small Sagittarius Star Cloud · IC 4715

Open in Ouranos

A bright patch of the Milky Way where a gap in the dust lets us see deep into the stars of a more distant spiral arm.

Measured

Distance
9,045 light-years
Size
about 320 light-years across (approximate)
Constellation
Sagittarius
Position (J2000)
RA 18h 16m 48s, Dec −18.55°

How far, from the Sun

9,050 light-years. To cross it:

  • Light9,050 years
  • Voyager 1's speed161 million years
  • Driving at 100 km/h97.6 billion years

Voyager 1 at the speed it moved outward over the year to 2026-10-25 (JPL Horizons). Driving: nonstop, never refuelling.

Facts

  • It is not a cluster: its stars lie along a deep line of sight, so it has no single distance.
  • It spans a few degrees on the sky, several full Moons across.

Where this comes from

  • No single distance; placed at the open cluster NGC 6603 in its field: Hunt & Reffert 2023, A&A 673, A114 (2,773 pc)
  • This research has made use of the SIMBAD database, CDS, Strasbourg, France (Wenger et al. 2000, A&AS 143, 9).
  • This research has made use of the VizieR catalogue access tool, CDS, Strasbourg, France (DOI: 10.26093/cds/vizier).

Every catalogue Ouranos draws is credited on the credits page.