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.

Oikeudet:

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

Kuvasta

Tunnistus:potw1016a
Tyyppi:Havainto
Julkaisupäivä:19. huhtikuuta 2010 9:55
Koko:2027 x 2064 px

Kohteesta

Nimi:Lagoon Nebula, Messier 8
Tyyppi:Milky Way : Nebula : Type : Star Formation
Etäisyys:5000 valovuotta
Constellation:Sagittarius
Kategoria:Nebulae

Kuvaformaatit

Suuri JPEG
1,6 MB
Kokoruudun JPEG
326,1 KB

Zoomattavissa


Taustakuvat

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

Koordinaatit

Position (RA):18 3 37.01
Position (Dec):-24° 23' 14.02"
Field of view:13.33 x 13.57 arcminutes
Suuntaus:Pohjoinen on 135.0° oikea pystysuuntaan nähden

Värit ja suotimet

KaistaTeleskooppi
Optinen
B
Danish 1.54-metre telescope
Optinen
V
Danish 1.54-metre telescope
Optinen
R
Danish 1.54-metre telescope