#ngc 6523

[quiltofstars]

The Lagoon Nebula, M8 // RichR

[klimkovsky]

M8 (NGC 6523) — The Lagoon Nebula

It is considered to be the second brightest nebula in the Earth’s sky, and one of two hydrogen nebulae visible to the naked eye (for an observer in the middle latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere). The first to come to mind is the Orion Nebula. Is there anything comparable to it in the sky? — Yes — There is the Lagoon Nebula.

But it is not easy to see the Lagoon with the naked eye. Its integral brightness is about 6m — right at the limit of the eye’s penetrating ability. If it is possible to see it without optics somewhere, then only high in the mountains. And it is not at all surprising that the Lagoon was discovered using a telescope, even the simplest one. Different sources give different discoverers. It is believed that this nebula was observed by Giovanni Hodierna back in 1654 or even earlier — in fact, in the era of Galileo. But then, telescopic study of the skies was not yet mainstream in astronomy, not everyone was in a hurry to talk about it. And Hodierna’s discovery did not become generally known at the time. That is why the French astronomer Guillaume le Gentil, who discovered a wispy foggy cloud in the constellation Sagittarius a century later, is sometimes mentioned as the discoverer of the Lagoon Nebula.

The Lagoon is located literally in the direction of the center of the Milky Way Galaxy, at a distance of 5,200 light years from us (until recently, distance estimates varied greatly — from 4 to 6 thousand light years, but in any case, the Lagoon is still very far from the center of the Milky Way). Interestingly, the famous Orion Nebula, often mentioned in connection with the Lagoon, is located almost in the opposite direction — away from the center of the Galaxy (but a little closer to us — 1,300 light years, which means that the Lagoon is much larger and brighter than the Orion Nebula … would be under equal conditions).

The M8 nebula has a physical diameter of 50 to 100 light years (it is oblong), in its huge volume young hot — sometimes very massive — stars are intensively born. It is the same maternity hospital for new galactic luminaries as the Orion Nebula.

The lagoon is adjacent to a large number of other interesting objects, which the constellation Sagittarius is rich in. Sometimes it seems that Sagittarius has attracted most of the pearls of visual and photographic astronomy. But the center of the Galaxy is to blame for everything — it is to it that both Nebulae and star clusters gravitate, which are most often present in the central parts of hydrogen nebulae — they are born in them. Laguna also has its own cluster — NGC 6530.

The visualization provided as an example is based on an astrophotography by Andre Helmuth and Jan Beckman, published on the Astrobin website — there this image became the winner of regular ratings, and in terms of detail it competes with the best professional photographs, although it was made using a telescope with a mirror diameter of 12 inches — quite serious, but not too big in comparison with the multi-meter giants of the top observatories.

[spacewonder19]

NGC 6523 Lagoon Nebula in Visible-light 

[noxwithoutstars]

✧｡:*▹ Lagoonebulaic

[ PT: Lagoonebulaic end PT ]

✧ Lagoonebulaic is a SPAN nebulaic gender related to the Lagoon nebula, or Messier 8 or NGC 6523 located in Sagittarius.

✧ Pronouns can include:

lagoon/lagoon/lagoons/lagoons/lagoonself

neb/nebula/nebulas/nebulas/nebulaself

cloud/cloud/clouds/clouds/cloudself

ID: a white DNI with a panel of the manga Oyasumi Punpun with 5 kids doing a joint pose. Words are black on the right side: “DNI: anti- ‘contradictory’ labels, anti-mogai, terf, gatekeeper, anti-decolonization, believes ‘narc abuze’ is real, demonizes ‘scary/evil’ disorders + labels.” End ID.

[entertainmentnerdly]

NGC 6523, or the Lagoon Nebula (image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical: Adam Block/Mount Lemmon SkyCenter/University of Arizona) [2654x2400] via /r/spaceporn https://ift.tt/3b2eZ57

[spinningblueball]

Lagoon Nebula (NGC 6523) (M8)

[cosmicvastness]

Lagoon Nebula by SPECULOOS

If you had a brand new state-of-the-art telescope facility, what would you look at first? Researchers at the SPECULOOS Southern Observatory — which comprises four small telescopes, each with a 1-metre primary mirror — chose to view the Lagoon Nebula. This magnificent picture is the result, and is one of the SPECULOOS’ first ever observations. The nebula is a cloud of dust and gas in our galaxy where new stars are being born, and is found roughly 5000 light-years from us.

Credit: ESO

[quiltofstars]

The Lagoon Nebula (M8, left) and the Trifid Nebula (M20, upper right) // Shain Lakin