M8 · Lagoon Nebula

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Credit ESO/IDA/Danish 1.5 m/ R. Gendler, U.G. Jørgensen, K. Harpsøe · CC BY 4.0

Chinese name	礁湖星云
Type	Emission nebula
Constellation	Sgr
RA	18h04m
Dec	−24°
Apparent magnitude	6ᵐ
Hemisphere	Southern
Best season	Summer
Difficulty	Easy
Focal length	中焦 400–800mm

About

The Lagoon Nebula (M8, NGC 6523) is one of the most spectacular emission nebulae in the summer Milky Way, lying about 4,100 light-years away in Sagittarius and spanning roughly three full-moon widths. Its bright red hydrogen cloud is bisected by a prominent dark dust lane, the namesake "lagoon." At its core lies the Hourglass, a hot star-forming region ionized by searing O-type stars, with the young open cluster NGC 6530 embedded nearby. High in surface brightness and visible to the naked eye as a hazy patch, it is one of the few deep-sky objects easily observed without dark skies. Often framed with the neighboring Trifid Nebula (M20), it is among the most photogenic stars of the southern summer sky.