May 5, 2011 - Astronomy.com
An all-time favorite of sky watchers on both hemispheres, the Lagoon Nebula (M8) is among the most striking examples of a stellar nursery in our neighborhood of the Milky Way Galaxy. Visible in small telescopes and binoculars, its fuzzy glow reveals the type of chaotic environment where new stars are born.
Argentinean astronomers Julia Arias from the Universidad de La Serena and Rodolfo Barbá from the Universidad de La Serena and ICATE-CONICET have used the Gemini South telescope in Chile to obtain a dramatic new image of the nursery that could be described as psychedelic...