On the night of August 19, 2020 I aimed my 8" SCT at the constellation Sagittarius to get a look at the object M8, also known as the Lagoon Nebula. I used my 32mm Plossl eyepiece and the Orion Ultrablock filter to pull out the nebulosity as this object is in the southern sky which is heavily light polluted from my backyard.
M8 is a large gas cloud in our Milky Way Galaxy which is hard to see in light polluted skies, but I've been told it really pops in dark skies. M8 is around 5,000 light years away with a diameter of 130 light years. This nebula is a star forming region and the young open cluster (NGC 6530) which illuminates it was created by this gas cloud. Also within the Lagoon Nebula is what's known as Bok Globulars which are dark areas of condensing gas and dust on their way to creating protostars.
 |
| M8 the Lagoon Nebula in Sagittarius |
This sketch was done on black canson paper, and I used white charcoal pencil to place the stars and a kneaded eraser to dim some stars in order to give the overall starfield a little more depth. I also used a white pastel pencil and a blending stump to place the nebula.
To see where this object is located in the night sky, and to see a time lapse of me sketching this object be sure to check out the video below:
Comments