The Lagoon Nebula in High Definition
Image Credit & Copyright: Data - ESO/INAF/R. Colombari/E. Recurt; Assembling & Processing: R. Colombari
Explanation: Stars are battling gas and dust in the Lagoon Nebula but the photographers are winning. Also known as M8,
this photogenic nebula is
visible even without binoculars towards the
constellation of
Sagittarius. The energetic processes of
star formation create not only the colors but the
chaos. The
red-glowing gas results from high-energy starlight striking interstellar
hydrogen gas. The dark
dust filaments that lace
M8 were created in the atmospheres of cool
giant stars and in the
debris from
supernovae explosions. The light from M8 we see today left about
5,000 years ago. Light takes about 50 years to cross this section of
M8. Data used to compose this image was taken with the wide-field camera
OmegaCam of the
ESO's
VLT Survey Telescope (VST).
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