The Lagoon Nebula

Messier 8, NGC 6523, Sharpless 25

Image copyright: John Gill

The Lagoon Nebula (catalogued as Messier 8 or M8, NGC 6523, Sharpless 25, RCW 146, and Gum 72) is a giant interstellar cloud in the constellation Sagittarius. It is classified as an emission nebula and as an H II region.

The Lagoon Nebula was discovered by Giovanni Hodierna before 1654 and is one of only two star-forming nebulae faintly visible to the eye from mid-northern latitudes. Seen with binoculars, it appears as a distinct oval cloud-like patch with a definite core. Within the nebula is the open cluster NGC 6530.

This image is a total of 10hr30min integration in narrow-band (Ha, Oiii & Sii) captured over two nights with an APM 107/700 scope on a CGX mount and ZWO 1600mm camera and filters.