M8 - Lagoon Nebula




About this image.

As often for diffuse nebulae, the cluster of young stars which has formed from the nebula's material was discovered first. When Charles Messier cataloged this object on May 23, 1764, he  described the cluster, and mentioned the nebula separately as surrounding the star 9 Sagittarii. It is the nebula which is now generally regarded as "Messier 8".

One of the remarkable features of the Lagoon Nebula is the presence of dark nebulae known as 'globules' which are collapsing protostellar clouds with diameters of about 10,000 AU (Astronomical Units).

Within the brightest part of the Lagoon Nebula, a remarkable feature can be seen, which according to its shape is called the "Hourglass Nebula". This feature was discovered by John Herschel and occurs in a region where a vivid star formation process appears to take place currently; the bright emission is caused by heavy excitation of very hot, young stars, the illuminator of the hourglass is the hot star Herschel 36 (mag 9.5, spectral class O7). Closely by this feature is the apparently brightest of the stars associated with the Lagoon Nebula, 9 Sagittarii (mag 5.97, spectral class O5), which surely contributes a lot of the high energy radiation which excites the nebula to shine.

M8 is situated in a very conspicuous field of the Sagittarius Milky Way. 

(Text taken from www.seds.org)

Psychedelic in the Lagoon - Fun with narrowband.
 

     Full Res

(2184 x 1472)
   (1.7Mb)                              

Equipment

Telescope:                 12.5" Ritchey Chretien by RC Optical Systems
Mount:                      Paramount ME by Software Bisque
Instrument:               STL11000M CCD Camera by SBIG

Exposure:                  This is an LRGB Image of exposures 150:50:50:50 minutes
Capture Software:       CCDSOFT V5
Processing:                Maxim DL/CCD, Photoshop CS, CCDSharp 

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