Lagoon Nebula

space · stars · nebula · astronomy

Massive star nursery. The Lagoon Nebula is a huge cloud of gas and dust where brand new stars are forming. Thousands of stars have been born there, and more are still being created today.

Visible from Earth. It's one of only two star-forming nebulae you can actually see without a telescope from mid-northern parts of Earth, though it looks pretty faint. With binoculars or a small telescope, you can see it much better during summer nights.

Discovered centuries ago. An Italian astronomer named Giovanni Hodierna first spotted the Lagoon Nebula way back in 1654. It's located in the constellation Sagittarius, which is a pattern of stars you can find in the summer sky.

Glows with hydrogen light. The nebula glows because it's made mostly of hydrogen gas that's been heated up by young, hot stars inside it. This makes the whole cloud shine with a beautiful reddish color.

Impossibly gigantic. The Lagoon Nebula stretches across a space so vast that it would take light about 110 years just to cross it. That's bigger than our entire solar system by trillions of times.