                         Astronomy Picture of the Day

                         Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! [1] Each day a different image or photograph of our
 fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a
                           professional astronomer.

                                2019 April 25
                                      [2]
                        Pan-STARRS Across the Lagoon
 Image Data Credit: Pan-STARRS [3] , Eric Coles, Martin Pugh [4] - Processing:
                                Eric Coles [5]

Explanation: Ridges of glowing interstellar gas and dark dust clouds inhabit
the turbulent, cosmic depths [6]  of the Lagoon Nebula. Also known as M8, the
bright star forming region is about 5,000 light-years distant. But it still
makes for a popular stop on telescopic tours [7]  of the constellation
Sagittarius, toward the center of our Milky Way Galaxy. Dominated by the
telltale red emission of ionized hydrogen atoms recombining with stripped
electrons, this stunning view of the Lagoon is over 100 light-years across. At
its center, the bright, compact, hourglass shape is gas ionized and sculpted
by energetic radiation and extreme stellar winds from a massive young star [8]
. In fact, the many bright stars of open cluster NGC 6530 drift within the
nebula, just formed [9]  in the Lagoon several million years ago. Broadband
image data from Pan-STARRS [10] (Panoramic Survey Telescope & Rapid Response
System) was combined with narrowband data from amateur telescopes to create
this wide and deep portrait of the Lagoon Nebula.

                      Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space

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Site notes:
  [1] archivepix.html
  [2] image/1904/LagoonPanSTARRS_ColesPugh2048.jpg
  [3] https://archive.stsci.edu/panstarrs/
  [4] https://www.martinpughastrophotography.space/
  [5] http://www.astrobin.com/users/coles44/
  [6] http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/1996/38/ image/b/
  [7] ap141125.html
  [8] ap140820.html
  [9] http://arxiv.org/abs/1209.0898
  [10] ap190405.html
  [11] ap190424.html
  [12] archivepix.html
  [13] lib/apsubmit2015.html
  [14] lib/aptree.html
  [15] https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  [16] calendar/allyears.html
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  [18] lib/edlinks.html
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  [20] http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=190425
  [21] ap190426.html
  [22] http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  [23] http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  [24] https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  [25] http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  [26] lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  [27] https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  [28] https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  [29] https://www.nasa.gov/
  [30] https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  [31] http://www.mtu.edu/
