A Close-Up of the Lagoon's Hourglass
Explanation:
In the central part of the
Lagoon Nebula lies the above pictured
Hourglass
Nebula.
In this region of recent star formation, obscuring
dark lanes of dust permeate the red-glowing hydrogen gas. Blocking
some of the gas cloud from our view, they chance
to create a glowing shape that appears from our vantage point like an
hourglass.
In the upper right of
this
picture from the
Hubble Space
Telescope
is a bright young blue star from the
open cluster NGC 6530 -
visible below center in
yesterday's
APOD. A
recent study of the Lagoon Nebula
(M8), has shown that this
emission nebula
houses large
magnetic fields and unusually large
dust particles.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
