Backyard Astronomy from Borrego Springs tonydude@yahoo.com

Lagoon Nebula     One of the remarkable features of the Lagoon Nebula is the presence of dark nebulae known as 'globules' which are collapsing protostellar clouds with diameters of about 10,000 AU. They can also be seen, along with other detail, in the DSSM image of M8.     The Lagoon Nebula is a cluster with nebula which is located in the constellation Sagittarius. It is a relatively close member of Messier's catalog located 6 thousand light years from earth.     Within the brightest part of the Lagoon Nebula, a remarkable feature can be seen, which according to its shape is called the "Hourglass Nebula". This feature was discovered by John Herschel and occurs in a region where a vivid star formation process appears to take place currently; the bright emission is caused by heavy excitation of very hot, young stars, the illuminator of the hourglass is the hot star Herschel 36.     The red  nebulosity is emission nebula , gas which is actually glowing with its own light.  It is in these gaseous regions that stars form.