# Star cloud

A dense patch of the Milky Way where we look through a gap in the dust into thousands of distant stars.

Star clouds aren't clusters: they're windows. In Sagittarius and Scutum, gaps in the Milky Way's dust let us see deep into the galaxy's crowded inner regions. The Small Sagittarius Star Cloud (M 24) is a glittering field over a degree long — glorious in binoculars and at the lowest power.

**Examples:** [M24](https://astropilot.space/object/M24.md)

**Related:** [Milky Way](https://astropilot.space/glossary/milky-way.md), [Open cluster](https://astropilot.space/glossary/open-cluster.md), [Dark nebula](https://astropilot.space/glossary/dark-nebula.md)

From the AstroPilot astronomy glossary: https://astropilot.space/glossary/star-cloud