The Lagoon Nebula, Messier 8.
Caption: The irregular distribution of stars in this part of the sky is due mainly to clouds of dust that dim the light of vast clouds of stars that make Sagittarius one of the brightest parts of the Milky Way. The Lagoon nebula is an illuminated part of such a dark cloud and it reveals the dust as dark lanes and globules silhouetted against the luminous gas. Within the nebula is the young star cluster NGC 6530, though the center of star-forming activity has now shifted westwards from the cluster to the brightest part of the nebula, around the tiny Hourglass Nebula.
Copyright: (c) 1979 Royal Observatory Edinburgh
Credit: D. F. Malin