The Red Lagoon (M8)

Objects in space often get more than one name. The Lagoon Nebula got its popular name from a band of dust to the left of a cluster of stars. Officially the open star cluster is named NGC 6530, and the nebula is called M8 or NGC 6523.

Whatever, it sure is pretty.

This view was made earlier in May by amateurs Jack Harvey and Tom Doughtery, with the help of a professional astronomer at a nightly observing program at the Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona. The program is designed to introduce total amateurs to the art and science of astronomy and astrophotography.

The nebula is home to young stars, hot gas and dust. The open cluster of stars is young, having developed several million years ago, compared to our Sun which is 4.6 billion years old.

Oh, and there's one more name to mention. In the middle of the nebula is a bright knot of gas and dust called the Hourglass Nebula.