The glow of the Lagoon Nebula

Gas and dust condense, beginning the process of creating new stars in this image of Messier 8, also known as the Lagoon Nebula. Located four to five thousand light-years away, in the constellation of Sagittarius (the Archer), the nebula is a giant interstellar cloud, one hundred light-years across. It boasts many large, hot stars, whose ultraviolet radiation sculpts the gas and dust into unusual shapes. Two of these giant stars illuminate the brightest part of the nebula, known as the Hourglass Nebula, a spiralling, funnel-like shape near its centre. Messier 8 is one of the few star-forming nebulae visible to the unaided eye, and was discovered as long ago as 1747, although the full range of colours wasn’t visible until the advent of more powerful telescopes. The Lagoon Nebula derives its name from the wide lagoon-shaped dark lane located in the middle of the nebula that divides it into two glowing sections.

This image combines observations performed through three different filters (B, V, R) with the 1.5-metre Danish telescope at the ESO La Silla Observatory in Chile.

Crédit:

ESO/IDA/Danish 1.5 m/ R. Gendler, U.G. Jørgensen, K. Harpsøe

À propos de l'image

Identification:potw1016a
Type:Observation
Date de publication:19 avril 2010 09:55
Taille:2027 x 2064 px

À propos de l'objet

Nom:Lagoon Nebula, Messier 8
Type:Milky Way : Nebula : Type : Star Formation
Distance:5000 années lumière
Constellation:Sagittarius
Catégorie:Nebulae

Formats des images

Grand JPEG
1,6 Mio
JPEG taille écran
326,1 Kio

Zoomable


Fonds d'écran

1024x768
330,4 Kio
1280x1024
534,4 Kio
1600x1200
790,2 Kio
1920x1200
907,2 Kio
2048x1536
1,3 Mio

Coordinates

Position (RA):18 3 37.01
Position (Dec):-24° 23' 14.02"
Field of view:13.33 x 13.57 arcminutes
Orientation:North is 135.0° right of vertical

Couleurs & filtres

DomaineTélescope
Visible
B
Danish 1.54-metre telescope
Visible
V
Danish 1.54-metre telescope
Visible
R
Danish 1.54-metre telescope