Copyright and reproduction policy
Yours truly
M8 (NGC 6523), the Lagoon Nebula, in Sagittarius
M8, the Lagoon nebula, is the brightest emission nebula visible from the northern hemisphere in summer (the Orion nebula of the winter sky is brighter). This huge mass of star-forming hydrogen gas is about 60 by 40 light years in size and only about 5200 light years distant from Earth. It is located in the adjoining Sagittarius-Carina spiral arm of our galaxy and closer to the center of the Milky Way. The red color is due to the emission of long wavelength light (primarily 656.3 nM) excited by radiation from hot young stars buried in the gas.
| Date | 26 August 2005 |
| Scope | Astro-Physics 130 f/4 (0.67 reducer) on AP 1200 GTO mount |
| Exposure |
ST-10XME CCD camera, -15 C, 12 x 5 min each R, G, B frames with Astrodon filters; guided with internal chip |
| Processing |
Acquired, calibrated, and combined in MaxIm 4.11. Stretched with levels and curves, unsharp masked and high-pass filtered in PhotoShop. Noise reduction with Noise Ninja. |