BellaOnline Forums Education Astronomy Lagoon Nebula (M8) *new article*

Barely visible to the unaided eye, Messier 8 (M8) – the Lagoon Nebula – lies about five thousand light years away in the constellation Sagittarius. It's over a hundred light years across, an enormous turbulent stellar nursery and stellar graveyard.

Lagoon Nebula (M8)

Mars Between Nebulas, photographed by Sebastian Voltmer.

Nice photo of the Lagoon Nebula (M8) and the Trifid Nebula (M20) with Mars in between them. In the foreground, of course, as Mars hasn't escaped the Solar System and traveled a few thousand light years. The Trifid Nebula is both an emission nebula (red) and a reflection nebula (blue).

Ridges of glowing interstellar gas and dark dust clouds inhabit the turbulent, cosmic depths of the Lagoon Nebula. Dominated by the telltale red emission of ionized hydrogen atoms recombining with stripped electrons, this stunning, deep view of the Lagoon is nearly 100 light-years across. Right of center, the bright, compact, hourglass shape is gas ionized and sculpted by energetic radiation and extreme stellar winds from a massive young star. In fact, the many bright stars of open cluster NGC 6530 drift within the nebula, just formed in the Lagoon several million years ago.

Image Credit & Copyright: Michael Miller, Jimmy Walker
Description: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)