Sky & Telescope - August 2020 - 20

by Howard Banich

Swimmin'
in the Lagoon
The Lagoon Nebula harbors a wealth of cosmic treasures.

T

he old black-and-white photo of the Lagoon Nebula
(M8) that ﬁrst sparked my interest in this beautiful
object also mystiﬁed me. Even though it was gorgeous,
it didn't look like a lagoon at all. But what did I know as a
14-year-old kid? Not much, of course, but aside from the puzzling name I was entranced and wondered if I could observe it
for myself with my homemade 8-inch f/4 Newtonian.
I was thrilled that I could see the Lagoon from my suburban
yard, even though only the brightest parts of the nebula and
the open cluster residing within it showed up. Once I began
sketching at the eyepiece in the summer of 1974, I drew several
renderings of M8. The star cluster stood out more than the
nebulosity, but I thought they looked pretty awesome together.
W FIRST
SKETCH The
author made
this early sketch
of the Lagoon
Nebula on
July 19, 1974,
using his 8-inch
f/4 Newtonian
telescope.

20

AUGUST 2 02 0 * SK Y & TELESCOPE

COSMIC POOL You can
see the Lagoon Nebula,
M8, just by looking up.
It's in the Great Rift of the
Milky Way and looks like a
small puff of steam coming from the spout of the
Sagittarius Teapot. North
is up in all images unless
otherwise noted.

When I saw the Lagoon Nebula the following summer
from a much darker site with the same scope, the nebulosity appeared much more extensive and totally stole the show
from the cluster. I was blown away! That was the ﬁrst time
I'd observed under a dark rural sky, and I remember the view
like it was last night.
A few decades later, the Hourglass region at the heart of
the Lagoon - a small, bright butterﬂy of nebulosity named
by John Herschel - was on the Oregon Star Party (OSP)
Advanced Observing List. For the ﬁrst time I dove into the
Lagoon to sketch what to me was an unfamiliar section of
my old favorite. I'd never observed the Lagoon at high power,
and I fell in love with it all over again. After spending an
hour or so sketching this area at 408× with my 28-inch f/4
Newtonian, I promised myself I'd return and sketch the
entire nebula and cluster with the same care in the future.
Not being in a hurry I kept putting it off - there's just so
much other stuff to see in the universe.

About the Drawings
In the summer of 2019 I ﬁnally started sketching the Lagoon
in detail - four nights at the Golden State Star Party and

L AGOON NEBUL A: N ASA / ESA / DIGITIZED SK Y
SURV E Y 2; E A RLY SK E TCH: HOWA RD BA NICH

CELESTIAL POOL

Sky & Telescope - August 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Sky & Telescope - August 2020

Contents
Sky & Telescope - August 2020 - Cover1
Sky & Telescope - August 2020 - Cover2
Sky & Telescope - August 2020 - 1
Sky & Telescope - August 2020 - Contents
Sky & Telescope - August 2020 - 3
Sky & Telescope - August 2020 - 4
Sky & Telescope - August 2020 - 5
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