Lagoon Nebula

 This beautiful cosmic cloud is located in the constellation Sagittarius. Eighteenth century astronomer Charles Messier cataloged the bright nebula as M8. It is now called the Lagoon Nebula and it is classified as an active stellar nursery about 5,000 light-years away, in the direction of the center of our Milky Way Galaxy. The Lagoon's filaments are of glowing gas and dark dust clouds. Twisting near the center of the Lagoon, the small, bright hourglass shape is the turbulent result of extreme stellar winds and intense starlight. At the nebula's estimated distance, the picture spans over 60 light-years

Lagoon Nebula