a-neb65-23009← Collection
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The Lagoon Nebula, M8, NGC 6523
- Reference
- a-neb65-23009
- Date
- 2006-09-20
The irregular distribution of light in this beautiful part of the sky is due mainly to clouds of dust that dim the light of vast clouds of stars that make Sagittarius one of the brightest parts of the Milky Way. The Lagoon nebula is an illuminated part of such a dark ('molecular') cloud and it reveals the dust as dark lanes and globules silhouetted against the luminous gas. Within the nebula is the scattered young star cluster NGC 6530, recently formed from this material, though the centre of star-forming activity has now shifted westwards from the cluster to the brightest part of the nebula, around the tiny Hourglass Nebula.
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