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Most folks think of outer space as a vast emptiness, but if you look at the right place in the right light, you'll find beautiful clouds of glory. The Lagoon Nebula in the constellation Sagittarius, also known as M8, is such a place. This region of the nebula, 5,000 light-years from Earth, is known as the "Southern Cliff" because of the sharp dropoff that can be seen in the clouds of glowing gas and dust.
The view captured by the Gemini South telescope in Chile does not reflect what the human eye would see. If you looked at the Lagoon through a good-sized amateur telescope, you'd see a pale ghostly glow with a touch of pink. But this picture was created using filters that are sensitive to emissions from hydrogen (red) and ionized sulfur (green), plus far-infrared light (shown here in blue). That explains the psychedelic color scheme.
As detailed in today's image advisory from the Gemini Observatory, Argentinean astronomers Julia Arias and Rodolfo Barba of the Universidad de La Serena acquired the data for this image to explore the evolutionary relationship between newborn stars and the shock waves created by Herbig-Haro objects — that is, nebulous regions that are formed when the gas ejected from young stars collides with the clouds of gas and dust. About a dozen Herbig-Haro objects of varying size are visible here. But you don't have to know the ins and outs of stellar formation to appreciate the vast abundance of the Lagoon.
Check out this Hubble view of the Lagoon Nebula, and get to know these other nebulae as well:
- Take a look at the WOW-rion Nebula
- Student gives a hoot about the Owl Nebula
- Dazzling star cluster in the Eagle Nebula
- North American Nebula shines brighter
Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page or following @b0yle on Twitter. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," Alan's book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.
Leave a Comment:
Beautious!!!
Beautiful!!!
Absolutely amazing!
Truly awe inspiring! Thanks for showing us.
The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. - Psalm 19:1
Amen!
What this shows is that any gods we fabricate are only another small part of our existence, man's folly. All gods die, just as we do. What follows is the mystery.
Oh dear oh dear.....This image shows the beauty and wonder of the Universe but saying it has any connection to 'god' is madness as 'god' does not exist. If anything should free people from the shackles of non-existent deities to science, knowledge and truth.
To MSMBC: Thanks for this photo, but come on, everyone knows that there are much better ones that are in the group.Will you only report what is authorized. Space is full of new things, and,if you pay attention, your goverment doesn't want you to know. UFO's may not be good copy, but they are real, even NASA has official documents that verify.
They should have sent a Poet- Starcraft Archon
So since circumstance do place trust to be he I've wondered
In view tis know distraction is not forbearing in mists of crisis sharing
Beauty of the stars do light in lieu of the blinded hearts surrounding
We accept this boon and merciful sight from thy creator for our burden of recent sunders
Late tonight when clouds and body thin themselves we find the spirit resting.
We leave the work to come for day, and renew tomorrow's testing
Like a child tugging on God's imperial cloak we ride
And he lets us knows that it impress us; ascends the court in strides
Burdens are uplifted and the gentle be
True is the fullest of the greater sea.
Awesome! Thank you for airing this.
Man, what I wouldn't do to cruise around the cosmos, like in 'Star Trek', and see the wonders of the universe! Now that would be just too cool!!!
The thing would not look like that to our eyes. Those colors were chosen and highlighted in a way to make the picture look more dramatic.
Yeah, but think about it. You're on the bridge of a star-ship with a view screen that has detectors and filters in place that show these objects just the same as the one above. Would that not be cool!? C'mon man, don't be such a kill-joy, Bob!
It wasn't done to make the photo more dramatic. The image is intended to allow us to see wavelengths our eyes cannot. Those wavelengths are mapped to colors our eyes can see.
Looks just like the Horsehead nebula to me - without the Horsehead (or a bit to the right...). Oh well.. Beautiful none-the-less. :)
Does anyone else see an eagle and faces in the pic....Wow!!!! beautiful pic!!!!
So a ghostly glowing ..... ?? beyond the naked eye is there mass can i touch it??
So a ghostly glowing ..... ?? beyond the naked eye is there mass can i touch it??
#14 - Fri May 6, 2011 6:13 AM EDT
'O wonderful, most wonderful!' How's that for stepping outside oneself and connecting with something ethereal? The planets are aligned and there really are auspicious moments ahead! ; - ) Beautiful!
Uhm, okay. Now how does it look in real life before someone in a drug induced stupor got hold of it?
Read comment #11. No one created the shapes, the gases we cannot see with the naked eye are brought out in different wavelengths of light. They simply change the filter on the lens of the telescope to see where these gasses exist. Its kind of like when you go out in the dark you cant see anything, but infared allows you too see the heat signatures of the things around you. Just because you couldnt see those shapes in the dark, doesnt mean they arent already there.
Stunning. And this is only the beginning still.
i don't know if there is a god(like the bible describes) or not but i do know there is something bigger than all of us out there somewhere.
Yes it's called the Universe.
There is no God.
Yet, I still believe the energy that encompasses my conciseness will be able to wander through space once it has left my mortal body behind. There might not be 20 virgins, harps, fresh fruit and white robes in my version of the afterlife, but at least in my afterlife I get to see all the marvels of the Universe, including the birthplace of life as we know it. So I am truly hoping my version of the afterlife is the real deal, for anything else would simply be a waste of my existence.
To be honest, I'm truly glad there is no GOD. For the thought of being someone's minion for the rest of my existence is just not a good thought at all.
I agree with you TruthSeeker
Why do you feel the need to be insulting about it though? That is just your belief, you dont know whether there is a god or not, but thats the point of faith. Im not saying that you shouldnt speak about what you think the afterlife contains. By being insulting and confrontational though, your not going to reach anyone that believes in god. Your also showing others that your not open minded to all possibilities, which you should be if you truley believe in ascension.
Not being confrontational, just being realistic about what I feel should be my life after I leave my mortal body behind. For the thought of being someone's follower and minion for eternity just doesn't sit well with me, and it really shouldn't sit well with anyone else either. Humans should know better!
Looking at it reminds us again how insignificant we are in the cosmic scale of things.
Amazing - truly amazing. Even more amazing when you consider that a cloud like that is our great-great-great-great-great.............grandparents. A nebula gave birth to a cluster of stars, those stars created all the elements of life and our solar system and then booom! they exploded and in doing so, gave birth to a new star and eight stunning planets - one with us on them.