M8 – The Lagoon Nebula
The Lagoon is a large gas cloud and very bright emission Nebula found in our southern skies within the constellation Sagittarius. This image is comprised of 27 3-minute exposures (81 mins). As it sits very low in my southern sky, the trees interfere just after crossing the meridian limiting the amount data captured.
M20, the Trifid Nebula, is seen in the top of this image. IC1275 is the paw looking gas cloud just to the left of the Lagoon Nebula.
The Lagoon Nebula is estimated to be between 4,000-6,000 light-years away from the Earth. In the sky of Earth, it spans 90′ by 40′, which translates to an actual dimension of 110 by 50 light years. In other words, IT’S HUGE!
Like many nebulas, it appears pink in time-exposure color photos but is gray to the eye peering through binoculars or a telescope, human vision having poor color sensitivity at low light levels.
The nebula contains a number of Bok globules (dark, collapsing clouds of protostellar material), the most prominent of which have been catalogued by E. E. Barnard as B88, B89 and B296.
It also includes a funnel-like or tornado-like structure caused by a hot O-type star that emanates ultraviolet light, heating and ionizing gases on the surface of the nebula.
The Lagoon Nebula also contains at its centre a structure known as the Hourglass Nebula (so named by John Herschel), which should not be confused with the better known Engraved Hourglass Nebula in the constellation of Musca. In 2006 the first four Herbig–Haro objects were detected within the Hourglass, also including HH 870. This provides the first direct evidence of active star formation by accretion within it.
Bottom line: The Lagoon Nebula, aka M8, is the largest and brightest of a number of nebulosity’s in and around the famous Teapot asterism in the constellation Sagittarius.
