Explanation:
This beautiful cosmic cloud is a popular stop on telescopic tours of
the constellation
Sagittarius.
Eighteenth century cosmic tourist
Charles
Messier cataloged the bright
nebula as M8.
Modern day astronomers recognize the Lagoon Nebula as an active
stellar nursery about 5,000 light-years distant, in the direction
of the center of our Milky Way Galaxy.
Remarkable features can be traced through
this
sharp picture, showing off the Lagoon's
filaments of glowing gas and dark dust clouds.
Twisting near the center of the Lagoon,
the bright hourglass shape is the turbulent
result of extreme stellar winds and intense starlight.
The alluring view is a color composite of both broad and narrow band
images captured while M8 was high in dark,
Chilean skies.
It records the Lagoon with a bluer hue than typically represented
in images dominated
by the red light of the region's hydrogen emission.
At the nebula's estimated distance, the picture
spans
about 30 light-years.
APOD's Discussion Board:
Browse links to astronomy news stories.
