Portal:Astronomy/Picture/Week 43 2008

Lagoon Nebula (right-click to enlarge).

The center of the Lagoon Nebula is a whirlwind of spectacular star formation. The tremendously bright nearby star, Hershel 36, lights the area. Vast walls of dust hide and redden other hot young stars. This picture, spanning about 5 light years, was taken in 1995 by the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope. The Lagoon Nebula, also known as M8, lies about 5000 light years distant toward the constellation of Sagittarius.