wide field astrophotography
Located roughly 4,300 light years from Earth in the constellation Sagittarius, and classified as an emission nebula, the Lagoon Nebula (M8) is a giant glowing cloud of interstellar gas. The massive stars embedded within the nebula give off enormous amounts of ultraviolet radiation, ionizing the gas and causing it to glow. The cluster of young stars near the centre of M8 is catalogued as NGC 6530.
Camera: ASI2600MC | Scope: 61mm WO Zenithstar 61 | Exposure: 1h 6m | Image Date: 2023-09-09 (reprocessed 2024-07-17)
Also very prominent in the image is the Trifid Nebula (M20). This star-forming region is an unusual combination of an open star cluster, an emission nebula (the reddish-pink portion), a reflection nebula (the blue portion), and a dark nebula (the dark gaps). The largest star in this region has a mass which is more than 20 times that of our Sun and is surrounded by a cluster of approximately 3100 young stars. M20 is located approximately 5,200 light year away and is also in the constellation Sagittarius.
Additional objects of interest include NGC 6559 (Chinese Dragon Nebula), NGC 6544 (Starfish Cluster) and M21 (Webb's Cross Cluster) to name a few.
Astrometric annotations detail surrounding stars and galaxies (reprocessed 2024-07-17)
