M8 The Lagoon Nebula

The Lagoon Nebula is estimated to be 4,100 light-years from the Earth. The key feature through a telescope is the large central lane of obscuring dust. Like many nebulas, it appears pink in time-exposure CCD camera color photos like this one, but is gray to the eye peering through binoculars or a telescope, human vision having poor color sensitivity at low light levels. The nebula contains a number of Bok globules - dark, collapsing clouds of star creation material. It also includes a funnel-like or tornado-like structure caused by a hot O-type star that pours out ultraviolet light, heating and ionizing gases on the surface of the nebula. The Lagoon Nebula also contains at its centre a structure known as the "Hourglass Nebula" (so named by John Herschel),