Lagoon Nebula in SHO

This is Messier 8, the Lagoon Nebula, photographed in narrowband light using the SHO palette. M8 is a large star-forming region in Sagittarius, about 4,100 light-years away. In this image, sulfur, hydrogen, and oxygen emission have been mapped to red, green, and blue, respectively, revealing structures that are less apparent in a conventional color image.

The bright blue region at lower left is the main body of M8. Dark clouds of dust and molecular gas cut across the nebula, while radiation and stellar winds from young, massive stars ionize and shape the surrounding gas. The open cluster NGC 6530 is embedded within the region.

At lower right is Messier 20, the Trifid Nebula. The much larger field also shows how M8 and M20 are surrounded by an extensive network of glowing hydrogen, dust lanes, and dark molecular clouds rather than existing as isolated objects.