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Explanation: Unlike most entries in Charles Messier's famous catalog of deep sky objects, M24 is not a bright galaxy, star cluster, or nebula. It's a gap in nearby, obscuring interstellar dust clouds that allows a view of the distant stars in the Sagittarius spiral arm of our Milky Way galaxy. Direct your gaze through this gap with binoculars or small telescope and you are looking through a window over 300 light-years wide at stars some 10,000 light-years or more from Earth. Sometimes called the Small Sagittarius Star Cloud, M24's luminous stars are left of center in this gorgeous starscape. Covering...

Explanation: This fifteen degree wide field of view stretches across the crowded starfields of Sagittarius toward the center of our Milky Way galaxy. In fact, the center of the galaxy lies near the right edge of the rich starscape and eleven bright star clusters and nebulae fall near the center of the frame. All eleven are numbered entries in the catalog compiled by 18th century cosmic tourist Charles Messier. Gaining celebrity status with skygazers, M8 (Lagoon), M16 (Eagle), M17 (Omega), and M20 (Trifid) show off the telltale reddish hues of emission nebulae associated with star forming regions. But also eye-catching...

January 13, 2011: Afghanistan is buying over a thousand American M24 sniper rifles for its army and police. These will be delivered over the next 40 months. Why not deliver them faster? Because most Afghans are lousy shots. While there are a lot of weapons in Afghanistan, and most families have one, there is not a lot of money for ammunition. Many of the weapons are old (often a century old) rifles and shotguns. Afghanistan is a very poor, if heavily armed, country. While marksmanship is admired, shooting skills have greatly deteriorated in the last three decades. Thus the U.S....

The U.S. Army has delivered, to troops in Afghanistan, 250 upgrade kits for their M24 bolt-action sniper rifles. These kids converts the M24s to the more powerful XM2010 sniper rifle. This main changed is allowing 7.62mm M24 rifles to fire the .300 Winchester magnum (7.62x67). This is a more powerful round than the NATO 7.62x51 round currently used in the M24. The conversion kit includes a new receiver and barrel, a new scope, a new flash suppressor and a folding buttstock. The XM2010 weighs 8.5 kg (18.7 pounds) and is 1.33 meters (52.2 inches) with the flash suppressor. The conversion...

Lord, Keep our Troops forever in Your care Give them victory over the enemy... Grant them a safe and swift return... Bless those who mourn the lost. . FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer for all those serving their country at this time. ...................................................................................... ........................................... U.S. Military History, Current Events and Veterans Issues Where Duty, Honor and Countryare acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated. Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans. In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family members should feel...