Lagoon Nebula

At a glance

Type

Emission nebula (H II region)

Constellation

Sgr

Right ascension

18h 03m 41.3s

Declination

−24° 23′

Apparent magnitude

5.8

Angular size

45x30′

Catalogue

NGC6523

Located in Sagittarius.

The outline on your card

A broad emission region split by a dark lane into a bright hourglass core and fainter lobes, with the cluster NGC 6530 embedded in its eastern rim.

Outline class

Patchy

Axis ratio

0.67 : 1

Central source

Embedded cluster

Surface brightness

High

Recorded structure

Bright rim · Dark lane · Rifts · Embedded stars

The card front carries no text by design: the glyph is drawn from this object's own silhouette, so the outline is the only clue you get until you scan it.

What did you just see?

Editorial description pending.

Find it in the sky

Observation guide pending.

Go deeper

Story pending.