Editing Lagoon Nebula (section)

== Characteristics ==
[[File:M8 Lagoon Nebula - M20 Trifid Nebula.jpg|thumb|left|Lagoon Nebula in HaRGB]]
[[File:Lagoon Nebula in Narrowband filters.png|thumb|left|Lagoon Nebula in SHO by amateur astronomer Buzz Jumaah from Auckland, New Zealand]]
The Lagoon Nebula is estimated to be between 4,000–6,000 [[light-year]]s away from the [[Earth]]. In the sky of Earth, it spans 90' by 40', which translates to an actual dimension of 110 by 50 light years. Like many nebulae, it appears pink in time-exposure color photos but is gray to the eye peering through [[binoculars]] or a [[telescope]], human [[Visual perception|vision]] having poor color sensitivity at low light levels. The nebula contains a number of [[Bok globule]]s (dark, collapsing clouds of protostellar material), the most prominent of which have been catalogued by [[Edward Emerson Barnard|E. E. Barnard]] as B88, B89 and B296. It also includes a funnel-like or [[tornado]]-like structure caused by a hot [[O-type star]] that emanates [[ultraviolet light]], heating and ionizing gases on the surface of the nebula. The Lagoon Nebula also contains at its centre a structure known as the Hourglass Nebula (so named by [[John Herschel]]), which should not be confused with the better known [[Engraved Hourglass Nebula]] in the constellation of [[Musca]]. In 2006, four [[Herbig–Haro object]]s were detected within the Hourglass, providing direct evidence of active [[star formation]] by accretion within it.<ref name="Ariasetal2006" />
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