Messier 8, The Lagoon Nebula (John O'Neal, NC Stargazer)

Messier 8, The Lagoon Nebula

The Lagoon Nebula (catalogued as Messier 8 or M8, NGC 6523, Sharpless 25, RCW 146, and Gum 72) is a giant interstellar cloud in the constellation Sagittarius. It is classified as an emission nebula and as an H II region.

The Lagoon Nebula was discovered by Giovanni Hodierna before 1655 and is one of only two star-forming nebulae faintly visible to the eye from mid-northern latitudes. Seen with binoculars, it appears as a distinct oval cloudlike patch with a definite core. Within the nebula is the open cluster NGC 6530.

The Lagoon Nebula is estimated to be between 4,000-6,000 light-years 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.

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.

Calibration

Center (RA, Dec): (270.960, -24.467)

Center (RA, hms): 18h 03m 50.357s

Center (Dec, dms): -24° 27' 59.638"

Size: 2.18 x 1.61 deg

Radius: 1.355 deg

Pixel scale: 3.54 arcsec/pixel

Orion EON ED80 mounted on a Losmandy Titan 50.

Canon 60Da at Prime Focus. (500mm fl)

Backyard EOS to capture subs & Calibration Frames.

Registered & Calibrated & Stacked in DeepSkyStacker.

Histogram Stretched & Processed in Adobe Photoshop.

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Messier 8, The Lagoon Nebula

Messier 8, The Lagoon Nebula

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Messier 8, The Lagoon Nebula

Messier 8, The Lagoon Nebula

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